Pakistani lawmakers demand halt to execution of mentally ill

Pakistani lawmakers demand halt to execution of mentally ill | iNFOnews.ca
Pakistani Senator Farhatullah Babar talks to the Associated Press in Islamabad, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016. Pakistan's senate's committee on human rights has urged the government to halt the execution of a schizophrenic man who is set to be hanged on Nov. 2. Babar said the committee also decided to approach President of Pakistan to seek pardon for Imdad Ali, who has been suffering from mental illness since 2008. He asked government to restore moratorium on executions to review process relating to executions. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash)

ISLAMABAD – A human rights committee in Pakistan’s upper house of parliament has urged the government to halt the execution of a man diagnosed with schizophrenia that’s due next week.

Lawmaker Farhatullah Babar says the committee will seek a pardon from President Mamnoon Hussain for 50-year-old Imdad Ali, a convict who was diagnosed in 2008.

Thursday’s development comes days after Pakistan’s highest court rejected Ali’s final appeal, claiming his disease does not qualify as a mental disorder.

Ali has been on death row since he was convicted in 2001 of murdering a religious scholar.

Babar says the committee was taking action because two Pakistani brothers were “wrongfully hanged” last year while their appeals were still pending.

Pakistan has hanged over 400 convicts since a moratorium on executions was lifted in 2014.

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