Pak court suspends execution of 'mentally challenged' murder

A Pakistani court today halted the execution of a murder convict on a petition contending that the prisoner was "mentally disabled and a declared psychiatric case".
District and sessions judge Abid Hussain Qureshi, who had taken up the petition filed by advocate Sarah Bilal of the Justice Project Pakistan (JPP), observed that the matter needs serious consideration and admitted the petition for hearing, the Dawn reported.
Saleem Ahmed was found guilty of murdering his sister Nasreen in 2001. The court had subsequently awarded him the death sentence in 2004 and issued black warrants for his hanging on November 7, 2017.

Advocate Bilal in her petition maintained that Ahmed was mentally challenged and therefore, could not be executed under the Pakistan Prison Rules.
Suspending the implementation of the death warrants, the court issued a notice to the Lahore Central Jail superintendent and called for a report, including Ahmed's latest medical record, on November 8.
In May this year, the Supreme Court had observed that it would be unfair to punish the mentally ill.
"It will be unfair to punish someone for an act they do not know they have done," the Supreme Court had said.