My oped in The News, Pakistan below. Also see my earlier piece on the issue in in Scroll – Clamour to hang Shafqat Hussain reflects vengeful mood in Pakistan after Peshawar attacks
Shafqat Hussain – more than 10 years ago, before he left his village in AJK
PAKISTAN: CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
It’s not just about Shafqat
by Beena Sarwar
Shafqat Hussain is due to be hanged — for the seventh (not fifth, as I wrote earlier) time — at 4.30 am on August 4, 2015. His ‘black warrant’ was issued on July 27, despite a comprehensive 12-page report by the Sindh Human Rights Commission (SHRC) on July 16 that urges the Sindh government to move to stay the execution, and approach the Supreme Court of Pakistan to “consider the evidence which could not be produced at the trial by defence”.
The SHRC’s recommendations cannot be taken lightly. This is a government-appointed statutory body set up in 2013 under the Human Rights Act of 2011 passed by the Sindh government. A respected retired judge of the Supreme Court heads it. At stake is a human life.
Filed under: Human rights | Tagged: Aftab Bahadur, Amnesty, Death penalty, Khizr Hayat, Pakistan, restorative justice, Shafqat Hussain | 4 Comments »
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