The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has through a letter requested Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to stay the execution of Abdul Basit, a paraplegic death row prisoner, imprisoned in Faisalabad, after warrants were issued for him to be hanged on November 25.
In its letter to the premier, the HRCP highlighted that this was the third time that execution warrants had been issued for Basit. He was first scheduled to be hanged on July 29, but the execution was stayed at the eleventh hour by the Lahore High Court, on a writ petition challenging the legality of his execution. On September 1, that petition was dismissed. A new warrant scheduling Basit’s execution for September 22 was subsequently issued, but the execution was again stayed after the Supreme Court issued an order stating that the execution could proceed, but only in accordance with the Pakistan Prison Rules.
In 2010, whilst in the Central Jail, Faisalabad, Basit had contracted tubercular meningitis which left him paralysed from the waist down. Despite being unable to stand, and reliant on a wheelchair, he is scheduled to be hanged on Wednesday (November 25).
In the letter to the prime minister, the HRCP chairperson noted that the prison authorities were still awaiting a response after writing to the federal government for guidance on how to proceed in the case.
Abdul Basit’s mercy petition is still pending and on October 15 a letter was forwarded to Basit’s counsel from the Presidency, which requested the Ministry of Interior to consider the pending mercy petition, which it described as “self explanatory”.
