Two mentally ill inmates get a new lease of life as SC commutes death sentence

LAHORE: The Supreme Court on Wednesday commuted the death sentence handed down to two mentally sick prisoners to life imprisonment.

The apex court issued directives for the authorities concerned to shift Imdad Ali and Kanizan Fatima Bibi to a mental health facility.

The court called for another death row inmate Ghulam Abbas to file a mercy appeal before the President of Pakistan and hoped that he will decide it in light of the SC verdict.

Justice Manzoor Ahmed Malik, who had headed the five-member bench that heard the case, pronounced this verdict at the apex court’s Lahore registry.

Also Read: SC hears appeals of mentally ill death row prisoners

The bench had reserved the verdict on a number of review petitions filed by the Punjab government and some mentally sick death row prisoners against execution of convicts suffering from mental illnesses, including schizophrenia.

The appeals sought review of the Oct 19, 2015 judgement of the Supreme Court that held the trial court and the high court had rightly convicted and sentenced the appellants.

The court ruled that it did not find any reason or mitigating circumstances to reduce the severity of their sentences.

Kanizan Fatima Bibi, from Kamalia town of Toba Tek Singh, was awarded death penalty in 1991 for killing six people. Whereas, Imdad, who hailed from Vehari, was handed capital punishment in 2002 for killing a citizen in Burewala.