Disabled death row convict set to be hanged

LAHORE (Web Desk) - Abdul Basit, a 43-year-old man, who was convicted for murder in 2009, is set to be hanged.

Basit, who has been wheel chair bound since 2010 after developing tuberculosis, is about to be hanged after the court ordered a warrant for his death on July 29, but his execution got temporarily suspended.

The counsel for Basit had pointed out that Pakistan's law had provisions for mercy to be granted in cases where prisoners were suffering from severe "ill-health".

The government's failure to acknowledge this and commute Basit's sentence appeared to form part of a worrying trend involving the blanket dismissal of all mercy petitions considered since executions resumed in 2014, he said before the court.

The bench headed by Justice Alia Neelum halted the execution and sought a reply from the prisons department by August 17. A final hearing will take place on the August 25, which is when he will be notified of the final verdict on whether he will be getting the death penalty or not, reports the Dawn.

The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Dainius Puras, has also voiced concern over the medical condition of the death row inmate Basit.