Friday, 19 February 2021, 6:47 am
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