In the light of recent developments in Imdad Ali case, a mental unstable convict, a two judge bench headed Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Anwar Zaheer Jamali received a list of 10 medical examiners from advocate general Punjab, in order to assess the mental state of the accused.
Death row prisoner, Imdad Ali, 50 years old, was sentenced to death for the murder of a religious teacher in 2002.
His lawyer maintained that Ali is unfit to be excecuted because of mental illness which obscured his ability to understand the nature of his crime, and it would be unfair to prosecute him as it would be a violation United Nations’ treaty and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The court raised an objection on the fact that Ali’s jail records were never created. “Imdad Ali was in jail for seven years, why was his history ticket not created?” commented Justice Ameer Hani Muslim.
“According to the law it is the duty of the jail officials to get an inmate’s full mental and physical diagnosis,” he added.
“If a person was not physically fit to come to court on their own, a medical exam was needed to be done,” he commented. “If a man cannot walk to their own execution, to execute them is not suitable.”
“This case will impact the society greatly,” said the opposing lawyer. “If Imdad Ali execution is overturned, every other prisoner on death row will question the court,” he added.
The matter of the creation of the medical board will be discussed in the next court hearing to be held on Friday.
The SC accepted a plea for formation of a medical board to assess the convict’s mental health on Monday and ordered the advocate general Punjab to provide names of mental health specialists.
A three-judge bench of the apex court headed by CJP, earlier, stayed Imdad Ali’s execution by accepting a plea seeking review of its Sept 27 judgment which upheld the sentence.
