PAKISTAN: SC HALTS EXECUTION OF PRISONER AFTER BEING INFORMED OF 'RECONCILIATION WITH HEIRS OF VICTIMS'

February 5, 2019:

The Supreme Court on 4 February 2019 halted the death sentence of a convict, Muhammad Siddique, who was scheduled to be executed on 7 February at the Gujranwala Central Jail.
On the basis of Section 381 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), Siddique's counsel Advocate Zulfiqar Bhutta had submitted a petition in the SC on 2 February.
Advocate Bhutta told the court that a reconciliation had been reached between the convict and the legal heirs of the victims.
He added that under Section 381, the death sentence can also be changed to life imprisonment.
A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Mushir Alam, halted the execution and sent a notice to the advocate general and prosecutor general of Punjab. The hearing of the case was adjourned until Feb 13.
Siddique was arrested in 1995 for the murder of three individuals — Muhammad Saleem, Salma Bibi and Saba Saleem — in Gujranwala.