Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Monday ordered a review of its own decision to dismiss a death row convict’s mercy plea, after facing flak for declaring that his schizophrenia was not a mental disorder under the country’s laws. The court has asked the Advocate General of Punjab, Prosecutor General of Punjab and the Attorney General for comments on the case, Dawn reported. Imdad Ali was convicted in 2002 for murdering a cleric. Ali’s wife had sought a review of the court’s decision.
The United Nations had earlier told Islamabad that the death sentence given to Ali was a breach of international law because he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and psychosis in 2012. His doctors and lawyers had told the court he was unable to understand the nature of his crime and punishment.
However, the court had noted that schizophrenia was “a recoverable disease, which, in all the cases, does not fall within the definition of ‘mental disorder’ as defined in the Mental Health Ordinance, 2001”. The bench also said rules related to mental sickness could not be subjugated to delay the execution of a death sentence.
Human rights groups around the world had condemned the court’s decision to allow Ali’s execution. Reprieve, a UK-based legal charity, had said, “It is outrageous for Pakistan’s Supreme Court to claim that schizophrenia is not a mental illness, and flies in the face of accepted medical knowledge, including Pakistan’s own mental health laws.” The UN’s human rights office had also called on the Nawaz Sharif government to stop the execution and initiate a re-trial “in compliance with international standards”.
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