SC commutes death sentences of mentally disabled inmates
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February 11, 2021
LAHORE: Two mentally disabled prisoners on death row had their sentences commuted by the Supreme Court on Wednesday in what activists called a landmark judgment on mental illness.
The court ordered Kanizan Bibi and Imdad Ali to be transferred to a mental health facility, and asked for the case of a third inmate facing execution to be reviewed. It also called for the establishment of a medical board to vet inmates for mental illness in capital cases.
“We hold that if a condemned prisoner, due to mental illness, is found to be unable to comprehend the rationale and reason behind his/her punishment, then carrying out the death sentence will not meet the ends of justice,” said the Supreme Court in its ruling.
Pakistan Commutes Death Sentences Of Mentally Ill Convicts
February 10, 2021
People gather to offer funeral prayers by the body of a Pakistani prisoner executed in January 2015. Pakistan lifted a six-year moratorium on the death penalty after militants killed more than 150 people at a school in the northwestern city of Peshawar in December 2014.
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Pakistan’s top court has commuted the death sentences of two mentally ill prisoners who have spent decades on death row in a landmark judgment hailed by human rights activists. If a condemned prisoner, due to mental illness, is found to be unable to comprehend the rationale and reason behind his/her punishment, then carrying out the death sentence will not meet the ends of justice, the country s Supreme Court ruled on February 10.