The execution of murder convict Shafqat Hussain was delayed for the fourth time on Monday night, hours before his scheduled hanging at Karachi’s Central Jail at 4am on Tuesday after the Supreme Court decided to take up his appeal on Tuesday against an Islamabad High Court (IHC) order allowing his hanging.
A three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by the Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk, will take up the petition at 9am. Hussain’s counsel had earlier said that their plea had not been taken up during the day as the CJP was busy with the proceedings of the Judicial Commission probing allegations of rigging in the May 2013 general elections. However, the counsel was hopeful that the SC might pass a stay order on execution later on Monday since the apex court had fixed a hearing for Tuesday.
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on May 21 dismissed the petition calling for the formation of a judicial commission to determine the age of death-row convict Hussain, terming it unmaintainable. “Nothing has been placed before this court which would indicate any miscarriage of justice or a need for a probe,” stated Justice Athar Minallah of the IHC.
Hussain has been convicted for abducting a child for ransom and killing him later. The lawyers say Hussain was a juvenile at the time of his conviction and therefore did not deserve the death penalty.
