[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 29


PAKISTAN:

Pakistan Should Remove People with Mental Disabilities From Death Row



Imdad Ali, who is aged around 50, was sentenced to death for the murder of 
a religious cleric in 2002 and is set to be hanged tomorrow.

This week, a medical board confirmed that Saleem Ahmad, a prisoner on 
death row for 14 years, has chronic schizophrenia. Ahmad, 50, had been 
scheduled to be executed in November 2017, but a court suspended his 
execution and ordered a medical board to assess his mental health. Ahmad – 
who was convicted of murder – has been in prison for more than 17 years.

This is a scathing indictment of Pakistan’s criminal justice system and 
should be used as an opportunity for reform. While the death penalty is 
inherently cruel and should be abolished, executing an individual with 
psychosocial disabilities violates Pakistan’s international legal 
obligations. The United Nations Human Rights Committee and UN special 
experts have determined that the execution of a person with a psychosocial 
disability violates the right to be free from cruel, inhuman, or degrading 
punishment.

Ahmad is one of many prisoners with psychosocial disabilities on death 
row. In April, the Supreme Court of Pakistan reviewed the death sentences 
of Kaniz Fatima and Imdad Ali, death row convicts with psychosocial 
disabilities. During the proceedings, the Chief Justice of the Supreme 
Court remarked: “Neither reason nor sensibility allow me to believe that 
we can execute a mentally ill or disabled person.” Kaniz Fatima and Imdad 
Ali remain on death row.

Kaniz Fatima is one of the few women on death row in Pakistan. According 
to her lawyers, she has not spoken for 12 years and is unable to eat, 
drink, or take care of herself without assistance. She has been in prison 
for 29 years.

She is among more than 8,000 prisoners on death row in Pakistan – one of 
the world’s largest populations of prisoners facing executions. Pakistani 
law mandates capital punishment for 28 offenses, including murder, rape, 
treason, and blasphemy.

The arbitrariness, unfairness, and high risk of error in capital 
prosecutions in Pakistan has been documented extensively. The death 
penalty is inherently cruel – but even more so for those who may not 
recognize their crimes. It good to see Pakistani authorities beginning to 
realize executing people with psychosocial disabilities is an affront to 
human decency and serves no criminal justice purpose. Pakistan should 
strengthen its justice system and work towards a complete moratorium on 
death sentences, rather than sending people like Saleem Ahmad to the 
gallows.

(source: Human Rights Watch)