The Islamabad High (IHC) on Friday reserved judgment on an appeal filed by death-row convict Shafqat Hussain till Monday.
During the hearing, convict’s counsel Dr Tariq Hassan argued that he was not challenging the Supreme Court’s verdict against his client, but he was saying that it was a matter of a juvenile case; when his client was handed down punishment, he was underage. He said that it was the responsibility of the government to issue birth certificates and national identity cards, which had not been issued to his client.
Hassan also produced some sections of the Human Rights and Juvenile Ordinance 2000, according to which children aged 18 and below could not be hanged.
The judge countered the counsel saying that his arguments were “tantamount to issuing licences to underage children to carry out suicide attacks”.
The public prosecutor told the court that the counsel for the convict wanted to reopen the case. He said that the convict’s counsel, if wanted, should be allowed to approach the Supreme Court to reopen the case.
The judge observed that if every convict were allowed to file pleas for reopening cases, it would set a bad precedent. The judge reserved the judgement till Monday.
