Supreme Court rejects Shafqat Hussain's plea against conviction

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk heard a plea of Shafqat Hussain against his conviction. The bench after brief proceedings rejected the appeal against implementation of the capital punishment.

Deputy Attorney General in his arguments before the bench said that the Jail Superintendent while exercising his discretionary powers had deferred the execution.

The court dismissed the appeal with the remarks that the matter has been closed on judicial level with dismissal of the review petition and could not be heard again.

The counsel of Shafqat Hussain Dr. Tariq Hassan said that he was not arguing over the system of justice and only talking about the fundamental rights of the convict.

Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk observed that the appeal and the review appeal have been dismissed in Supreme Court and the President has also rejected the mercy plea of the convict so as the matter has comes to an end as per the judiciary is concerned.

Justice Amir Hani Muslim in his remarks said that the matter about determination of the age would have been raised at the trial court, which could not re-open now.

Shafqat Hussain was sentenced to death in 2004 by a court for kidnapping and involuntary murder of a seven-year-old boy in 2001.

The convict had filed a petition in Supreme Court on Monday, challenging the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) order regarding his execution.

The IHC had on May 21, dismissed a petition calling for the formation of a judicial commission to determine Shafqat Hussain’s age, terming it non-maintainable.

The execution of Shafqat Hussain was deferred fourth time on Tuesday.