Pena di morte: Pakistan, sospesa impiccagione del paraplegico Abdul Basit in attesa di verifiche mediche

ANSA

In attesa di verificare condizioni mediche

Islamabad - Il presidente pachistano Mamnoon Hussain ha sospeso l'impiccagione di un sospetto criminale paraplegico che era prevista per oggi. Lo riferisce un comunicato ufficiale. La decisione, presa nella notte, stabilisce un rinvio di due mesi per permettere di verificare le condizioni di Abdul Basit, condannato a morte nel 2009 per omicidio e da cinque anni sulla sedia a rotelle.

Pakistan: appello Human Rights Watch "stop a impiccagione di condannato paralizzato"

Ansa
La Ong Human Rights Watch (Hrw) ha rivolto un pressante appello alle autorità del Pakistan affinchè sia sospesa l'esecuzione della condanna a morte per impiccagione fissata per martedì di Abdul Basit, che è dal 2010 su una sedia a rotelle, paralizzato dalla vita in giù. In un comunicato diffuso a New York Hrw sottolinea come "questo caso sottolinea la crudeltà che è connaturata con la pena capitale permettendo l'esecuzione di essa nel caso di una persona severamente disabile".

Abdul Basit

Basit, ex amministratore di una università medica, è stato condannato a morte nel 2009 per omicidio. L'anno successivo, mentre era nel 'braccio della mortè del carcere di Faisalabad, ha contratto una meningite tubercolare che ne ha provocato la paralisi della parte inferiore del suo corpo. Al riguardo il direttore per l'Asia di Hrw, Brad Adams, ha osservato che "piuttosto che interrogarsi sulla crudeltà connaturata con la pena capitale, i funzionari pachistani stanno scervellandosi su come impiccare un uomo su una sedia a rotelle.

Ritengo che il Pakistan dovrebbe urgentemente commutare la sentenza di Basit". Dopo il cruento attacco dei talebani ad una scuola pubblica dell'esercito pachistano a Peshawar il 16 dicembre 2014 in cui morirono quasi 150 persone quasi tutti studenti, il premier Nawaz Sharif ha revocato la moratoria sulla esecuzione della pena di morte che era in vigore dal 2008. E ciò ha fatto sì che il Pakistan sia il Paese al mondo che ha eseguito più condanne a morte.

In Pakistan Abdul Basit paralysed murder convict to be hung while in wheelchair

The Indipendent
A disabled man in Pakistan faces the possibility of being hanged in his wheelchair, after he lost the use of his legs due to tuberculosis.

Abdul Basit

43-year-old Abdul Basit was convicted of murder in 2009. While in prison in 2010, he developed tuberculosis.

According to human rights campaigning group Reprieve, who say his execution would be a "cruel and violent spectacle", Basit received improper care after he contracted the illness, leaving him paralysed from the waist down.

A medical report on his health, seen by The Daily Telegraph, described his disability as a "complication of tuberculous meningitis."

The report, signed by two doctors, says that patients with his condition are "usually permanently disabled and there is almost no chance of any recovery."

"He is likely to remain bed bound for the rest of his life."

His execution was said to be imminent after a warrant was issued on 29 July - however, his legal team managed to obtain a stay of execution.

A final hearing on 25 August will be held, to decide whether he can be put to death.

His lawyers, from Justice Project Pakistan, say that hanging a man in a wheelchair is a breach of regulations. They also claim that since he cannot support his own weight, it is impossible to accurately measure the length of rope required to hang him.

They say that hanging him with a rope of the wrong length would give him an "appalling death".

Pakistan to execute paraplegic next week, as hanging of mentally-ill prisoner postponed

Reprieve
A severely disabled prisoner on Pakistan's death row has been told he will be executed next Wednesday (29th).

Abdul Basit, 43, was convicted and sentenced to death for murder in 2009. In 2010, he contracted tubercular meningitis in prison, which left him paralysed from the waist down. Despite being unable to stand, and reliant on a wheelchair, a 'Black Warrant' issued this morning confirms he will be hanged next week.
In a mercy petition to the President of Pakistan, Abdul's lawyers have argued that as the Pakistan Prison Rules of 1978 - the statute regulating executions - does not provide alternative procedures for the hanging of a disabled prisoner, the execution would amount to cruel and unusual punishment, and would breach Pakistani and international law.

News of Abdul's warrant for execution came as a last-minute stay was issued for Khizar Hayat, a prisoner suffering from severe mental illness who was to be hanged on Tuesday (28th). Khizar has been diagnosed as schizophrenic, and is held in a hospital cell, reportedly unable to understand his situation. The execution of prisoners suffering from mental illness is prohibited by Pakistani and international law.

Some 180 prisoners have been hanged in Pakistan since the resumption of executions in December 2014. Among the prisoners to have faced the gallows have been others suffering from mental illness, juveniles, and many who may have been innocent of the crimes of which they were convicted.

Commenting, Kate Higham, Pakistan caseworker at human rights organization Reprieve, said: "In less than a week, we've seen the authorities in Pakistan attempting to execute mentally ill and disabled prisoners. While the stay of execution granted to Khizar Hayat this morning is extremely welcome, it is appalling that the authorities still see fit to hang a paralysed man next week. Pakistan's wave of executions is nothing but a cruel and pointless spectacle, and must be halted immediately."