Officials opposed to public execution

Legislators, religious leaders and Lahore High Court resist calls for Zainab’s killer to be executed in public

The inspectorgeneral of prisons in Balochistan said amending the law for one case would be unfavourable for society while the Council for Islamic Ideology also opposed the suggestion.

Pakistani legislators, officials and religious leaders yesterday unanimously rejected the demand for the public execution of Imran Ali, the convicted rapist and murderer of eightyear-old girl Zainab Ameen.

The issue of the public executions under Pakistani law was discussed by the member of the Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice in a meeting chaired by Senator Javed Abbasi.

The meeting was also attended by Law Minister Chaudhry Mahmoud Bashir Virk, the law secretary, representatives of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), and the Prisons Department.

When Senator Abbasi enquired if the Parliament would need to introduce an amendment to the Pakistan Penal Code or whether the addition of a rule would be required in order to carry out public hangings, Senator Rahman Malek reminded the committee that the Supreme Court had forbidden public hangings.

“We cannot violate the Supreme Court’s order by hanging [the convict] in public,” he said.

Law Minister Virk also pointed out that a public execution would be considered a violation of human rights.

“Emotions aside, steps that are in conflict with the constitution should be avoided,” he said. The inspector-general of prisons in Balochistan said that amending the law for the sake of one case would be unfavourable for society.

“We cannot punish the entire society by hanging a person in public,” he insisted.

Amendment

The CII also opposed the suggestion to carry out the death sentence in public and said that the execution must be carried out inside a jail.

In his earlier comments, CII Chairman Dr Qibla Ayaz advised against introducing an amendment in the law seeking the public hanging of child kidnappers.

However, at the meeting, the body’s suggestion to broadcast the sentence on electronic media was opposed by senators from all provinces.

Meanwhile, the Lahore High Court (LHC) yesterday also rejected a petition calling for Ali’s public execution.