ISLAMABAD// A schizophrenic convicted of murder will be executed on Wednesday after Pakistan’s supreme court ruled last week that his condition was not a permanent mental disorder and therefore not legally relevant.
Imdad Ali, 50, was certified by government doctors as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia in 2012, following his conviction for the 2001 murder of a Muslim cleric.
His lawyers argue that Ali should not be executed because he is unable to understand his crime and doing so would violate the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a UN treaty to which Pakistan is a signatory.
“Imdad’s death will serve no retributive purpose, as he remains completely unaware of this reality,” said defence lawyer Sarah Belal.
A government psychiatrist said he had no doubt about the diagnosis.
“I have been treating this man for the last eight years, and there is absolutely no room for doubt in this that he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia,” said Tahir Feroze.
On October 20, hearing Ali’s final appeal, the supreme court ruled that schizophrenia was “not a permanent mental disorder” and therefore could not be defined as a mental illness.
With his execution date set, Ali’s only hope of a reprieve is a pardon from the president, Mamnoon Hussain, who rejected an earlier mercy petition in May. Ali’s legal team filed a new petition last month.
As a last resort, Ali’s wife says that she is seeking forgiveness for her husband from the heirs of the murder victim, which could avert his execution under a feature of Islamic law used in Pakistan.
“We are trying to contact them, but they are never available to us. We are trying to set a meeting,” Safia Bano said.
Pakistan has hanged 425 people since 2014, when it ended a moratorium on executions following a massacre at a Peshawar school where Taliban gunmen killed more than 150 people.
* Reuters
