UN rights experts urge Pakistan authorities to halt
execution of a person with disabilities
GENEVA (27 September 2016) – Four United Nations human
rights experts* today urged the authorities in Pakistan to halt the execution
of Mr. Imdad Ali, a man with a psychosocial disability, and to re-try him in
compliance with international standards.
An appeal had been filed against this
decision but was dismissed by the Supreme Court earlier today, and now Mr. Ali
could be executed within a week.
“It is a violation of death penalty safeguards to impose
capital punishment on individuals with a psychosocial disability, ” the UN
experts said.
“We urge the authorities to annul the death sentence against Mr.
Ali and to ensure a fair re-trial which takes into consideration all evidence
relevant to the case including medical reports on Mr. Ali’s mental health status.”
The 50-year-old Pakistani was sentenced to death in 2002
for the alleged murder of a religious scholar. A year before the killing, Mr.
Ali had been examined by a doctor and referred to a mental health facility for
treatment.
His psychosocial disability was raised at his first trial, but his
condition was not mentioned in the court ruling sentencing him to death.
While medical reports commissioned in prison in 2004 and
2012 diagnosed him with psychosis and paranoid schizophrenia, in 2015 the Supreme
Court dismissed the defendant’s appeal claiming lack of medical evidence
proving Mr. Ali’s psychosocial disability.
“The courts have disregarded medical reports asserting
that the defendant has a psychosocial disability and have not conducted an
independent evaluation of his mental health status,” stressed the experts.
“Implementing the death penalty under these conditions is unlawful and
tantamount to an arbitrary execution, as well as a form of cruel, inhuman or
degrading punishment.”
The UN human rights experts recalled that persons with
psychosocial disabilities frequently face the risk of being sentenced to death
and executed in breach of international standards.
“States must do their utmost to address this risk,
including by providing accommodation during all phases of legal proceedings,
and by granting adequate protection from any form of discrimination against
them because of their mental health condition,” they stressed.
“We are concerned at Mr. Ali’s deteriorating psychosocial
condition, among other things, due to lack of appropriate treatment and
reasonable accommodation in detention,” the experts noted highlighting that the
denial of reasonable accommodation in detention can be considered a form of
discrimination, as well as cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment.
(*) The experts: Ms. Agnes Callamard, Special Rapporteur
on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Mr. Juan E. Méndez, Special
Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment; Ms. Mónica Pinto, Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges
and lawyers; and Mr. Dainius Pūras, Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone
to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental
health.
ENDS
The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the
Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest
body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name
of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that
address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of
the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not
UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from
any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.
Learn more, log on to:
Summary executions:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Executions/Pages/SRExecutionsIndex.aspx
Independence of the judiciary:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Judiciary/Pages/IDPIndex.aspx
Right to health:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Health/Pages/SRRightHealthIndex.aspx
UN Human Rights, Country Page – Pakistan:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/AsiaRegion/Pages/PKIndex.aspx
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Brenda Vukovic (+41 22 917 9635 / bvukovic@ohchr.org).
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