LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday dismissed the appeal submitted by Amin Ansari, father of seven-year-old Zainab who was raped and murdered in Kasur, demanding public hanging of convict Imran Ali.
As a two-member bench comprising Justice Sardar Shamim Ahmed and Justice Shehbaz Rizvi heard the case, Amin Ansari’s lawyer Ishtiaq Chaudhry told the court that a convict can be publicly hanged under Section 22 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.
However, the bench responded that only the government had the authority to issue orders for a public execution by invoking Section 22.
Heading the bench, Justice Shamim added: “We are not the government.”
He inquired if the appellant had submitted a request with the government. Amin’s lawyer replied in the affirmative, arguing that the government had not taken any action on the request.
The bench then inquired of Ishtiaq why his client had not approached the court earlier if the government had not accepted his plea.
“You have come here so late. The date of the hanging has been fixed for tomorrow [Oct 17],” Justice Shamim added.
Ishtiaq then urged the court to allow a live telecast of the execution when it takes place inside the jail, stressing that his client was ready to bear expenses if allowed to take a camera inside.
However, the court dismissed Amin’s appeal.
Earlier on Monday, LHC had issued a notification to Punjab home secretary to appear in court on Tuesday.
In a written petition on Saturday, Ansari had demanded public hanging of convict Imran Ali, stating that the Anti-Terrorism Act’s (ATA) Clause 22 allowed the government to hang a convict in public.
On February 2017, Imran was handed four separate death sentences after being convicted of the rape and murder of Zainab.
He further received life imprisonment and fine totalling Rs3.2 million ($30,000) for additional charges of hiding the victim’s body. One million rupees of the fine was also decided to be given in compensation to Zainab’s family.
On June 12, Supreme Court (SC) had turned down Imran’s plea against the death sentence.
Zainab was found dead in a skip on January 9, 2017, in Kasur district near Lahore several days after her disappearance.
Imran was arrested two weeks after he committed the crime that ignited nationwide protests. Taking suo moto notice, the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar ordered the concerned authorities to submit a report within 24 hours.
The rape and murder of Zainab Ansari was the 12th such case in Kasur district in the last year.
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