Abdul Basit. —Photo courtesy of ReprieveHe has come within minutes of his death before. Once, the rain delayed the execution. He waited for hours under a tin roof for the rain to stop. Eventually, the authorities postponed the execution as the rain lingered on.
This time around, he is alive because of the President’s largesse who has postponed the execution for two months.
Abdul Basit, a convicted murderer facing the death penalty, presents Pakistan with the opportunity to show mercy to the one who failed to do the same in the past.
For those who believe in a compassionate God, forgiveness should come naturally. Yet, Abdul Basit’s execution would have been the 300th this year, giving Pakistan the undesirable distinction of being a place where forgiveness is in short supply.
Abdul Basit is perhaps the only death row prisoner in Pakistan who is paraplegic.
Dual imprisonments
While being on death row, he became ill during the prison riots in 2010. No one attended to him for weeks. His condition worsened, ultimately leaving him paralysed from the waist-down.
He is therefore undergoing two simultaneous imprisonments: incarcerated in a prison and at the same time bound to a wheelchair.
Pakistan had imposed a moratorium on death penalty. This changed after the Taliban stormed a school in Peshawar, killing 141, mostly children in December last year.
The enraged nation and grieving parents demanded justice. Lifting the moratorium on death penalty seemed like justice. But, where has an eye for an eye created a just society?
Also read: 7 reasons why Pakistan should not have the death penalty
The government reinstated the death penalty to deal with battle-hardened terrorists who continued to run operations from behind bars, including intimidating witnesses, lawyers, and judges.
However, human rights activists in Pakistan claim that most of those sent to the gallows have been petty criminals; the real terrorists have escaped arrests or prosecution.
Abdul Basit’s story
Abdul Basit fell in love twice. The first time around, he was able to marry one Musarrat Nosheen without a problem. A few years later, he fell in love with a young woman, Sadaf Shehzad, and wanted to marry the second time. The young woman’s family opposed the union, knowing he was already married with children.
But, Ms. Shehzad’s family eventually gave in and consented to her marriage, provided Basit’s first wife, Ms. Nosheen, consented to his second marriage. Ms. Nosheen told BBC that she reluctantly agreed to her husband’s second marriage.
Basit was convicted of murdering Ms. Shehzad’s uncle, a young man, who had opposed her marriage. The circumstances of, and the motives for, the murder are rather murky. Nevertheless, a court found him guilty and his subsequent appeals for acquittal and clemency were denied.
He has been confined to a wheelchair since 2010. The logistics of his execution pose several challenges for the authorities who must adhere to the jail manual, which explicitly lays out the rules and procedures for death by hanging.
The macabre details of how the noose be tied, how high the fall should be to prevent decapitation or strangulation, and that the convict should be in standing position before hanging are all written in black and white in the jail manual.
Hanging a paraplegic would require deviations from the manual; running the risk of a botched execution that would most certainly compromise the dignity of Basit.
Despite being convicted of murder, he is entitled to dignity and due process.
Compassion demands that Basit not be treated like other criminals. His disability imposes even a harsher sentence than faced by most other death row prisoners. Others have shown mercy in almost identical circumstances.
Also read: Would we hang a 14-year-old 'terrorist'?
Earlier this month in Canada, a judge decided not to send a convicted murderer to prison because of his disability. The accused, who could not be named because of his young age, ran over and killed a police officer. The accident left the teen quadriplegic: He lost movement in both arms and legs.
Even though the jury found the teen guilty, the judge did not sentence him to jail time. Instead, he awarded nine years of “conditional supervision” at a facility where the teen’s medical needs would be met.
The judge was mindful of the fact that the family of the deceased police officer expected a prison sentence. Still, Judge Alex Sosna believed that imprisoning the accused would not have made him more accountable. The convicted teenager is “already serving a life sentence, imprisoned in his wheelchair,” the judge remarked.
We must express our gratitude to the President for postponing Abdul Basit’s execution for a couple of months.
We must also use this time wisely to reflect on what we have become as a people and how we should be as a society. For without compassion, there is no justice.