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.
Islamabad, Pakistan – In a landmark verdict, Pakistan’s Supreme Court has ruled that imposing the death penalty on prisoners living with a serious mental illness, particularly those who do not understand the nature of the punishment, “will not meet the ends of justice”.
The ruling was issued by the Supreme Court on Wednesday after the five-member bench had earlier reserved its verdict in the appeals of three prisoners living with mental illnesses against their convictions.
“[W]e 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,” reads the judgement, which effectively bans the use of the death penalty for those living with a serious mental illness.
ISLAMABAD
In a landmark ruling, Pakistan’s top court on Wednesday commuted the death sentences of two mentally ill prisoners who have spent decades on death row, the first such ruling in this conservative Muslim-majority nation.
The decision by the Supreme Court was quickly hailed by Justice Project Pakistan, a rights group that has fought an extensive, years-long legal battle for the two inmates.
One of the two prisoners whose sentence was commuted, Kanizan Bibi, has spent 30 years on death row. She was 16 when she was charged with murdering her employer’s wife and five children. The police said she was having an affair with her employer, who was also arrested and later hanged. She was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2000.
LAHORE, Pakistan: Pakistan’s Supreme Court commuted on Wednesday death sentences for two mentally ill people and sent them to health facilities and it directed the government to seek a pardon for a third mentally ill person on death row.