Pakistan: UN experts welcome death penalty ban for individuals with mental health conditions GENEVA (18 February 2021) – UN human rights experts have welcomed a decision by the Supreme Court of Pakistan to ban the execution of defendants with mental health conditions.
“We applaud the Supreme Court for recognising that executing such individuals ‘does not meet the ends of justice’,” said the experts.
On 10 February 2020, the Supreme Court held that where a medical board certifies that the defendant is no longer able to appreciate the rationale behind their death sentence, they cannot be executed.
The decision also commuted the death sentence for Ms. Kanizan Bibi and Mr. Imdad Ali to life in prison, and ordered a fresh mercy petition be prepared for Mr. Ghulam Abbas, whose previous petition had been dismissed.
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After a long battle by human rights groups, led by Justice Project Pakistan, the Supreme Court has ordered that persons who are mentally insane cannot be sentenced to death and should instead.
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.