UN experts have urged Pakistan not to carry out arbitrary execution of mental illness prisoners. The execution of Khizar Hayat, sentenced to death in 2003 for killing a colleague, was suspended by Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Saturday, just three days before the 55-year-old was due to be hanged.
Government doctors had diagnosed Hayat as suffering from schizophrenia in 2008. Agnes Callamard, UN expert on extrajudicial executions and disabled rights said, the imposition of capital punishment on individuals with psychosocial disabilities is a clear violation of Pakistan’s international obligations. Pakistan’s Supreme Court will on Monday held a hearing into whether the execution of Khizar Hayat can go ahead.
The UN experts said, Hayat, who has spent more than 15 years in custody, has been kept in solitary confinement since 2012, urging the government to halt the execution and questioning the veracity of his conviction.
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