PAKISTAN. SUPREME COURT STAYS EXECUTION OF FOUR CONVICTS

December 21, 2005: the Shariat Appellate Bench of Pakistan’s Supreme Court stayed the execution of four convicts who had been sentenced to death for raping a Christian girl, Saima Bibi, in Faisalabad in 1999. The court adjourned further hearings of the case  till December 29. Shehzad alias Shado, Muhammad Ashraf, Umer Hayat and Mubarak Ali had originally been sentenced to capital punishment by the Faisalabad Anti-Terrorist Court.
The Lahore High Court as well as Supreme Court upheld the sentence and a mercy petition filed before the President of the Pakistan had also been dismissed despite the fact that the parents of the rape victim had forgiven the rapists. (Sources: Pakistan Press International Information Services, 21/12/2005)