Authorities are set to hang a man who says he was 15 when he was arrested for a murder he claims he did not commit, lawyers said on Saturday.
Ansar Iqbal says he was 15 when he and a friend were arrested 16 years ago for the murder of a neighbour, which the victim’s family said was over an argument at a cricket match. Iqbal says police framed him because he was poor by planting two guns at his house.
The report does not give any further details of the murdered neighbour’s relatives or the complainant in the case.
Pakistani law forbids the execution of juveniles, but courts have refused to examine Iqbal’s school records and birth certificate because they say they were submitted too late, said Maya Foa of British legal aid group Reprieve.
His old school record and a new birth certificate issued this year give his age as 14 and 15 respectively. Record keeping in Pakistan is poor and records are easily forged.
Instead, the court concluded he was in his early 20s based on a policeman’s estimate at the time of his arrest, Foa said. Iqbal’s friend was tried as a juvenile.
“The onus has to be on the government and prosecution to prove that the individual facing the gallows is not a juvenile if all the available evidence points otherwise” she said. “Otherwise it puts the defendant in an impossible position.”
Iqbal’s lawyer, Munir Basit, confirmed his client had been tried as an adult and had been notified he was to hang at Sargodha jail next week.
“He has received his black warrant in the concerned jail,” Basit said.
Court and prosecution officials were not available for comment.
The claim follows the execution of Shafqat Hussain, a death-row prisoner who was hanged to death in Karachi after a prolonged trial.
Hussain sentenced to death in 2004 for the kidnapping and murder of a seven-year-old boy who lived in a Karachi apartment building where Shafqat worked as a security guard. He was arrested while trying to collect ransom from the victim’s parents, after the seven-year-old was ‘involuntarily’ killed.
Hussain’s counsel maintained that he had been a minor at the time of sentencing, following which the Federal Investigation Agency had been directed to investigate the case.
Shafqat Hussain was hanged on Aug 4 after his black warrant was issued for the fifth time on July 27.
