ISLAMABAD: In a dramatic turn again Islamabad High Court on Tuesday halted execution of Shafqat Hussain.
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday directed the government to explain the legal status of an inquiry conducted by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to determine age of the murder convict Shafqat Hussain.
The government had been directed to submit its reply today (Tuesday), a day before Hussain’s scheduled execution on Wednesday.
The direction came after Shafqat’s counsel convinced Justice Athar Minallah in light of a Supreme Court judgment that only a judicial forum could determine juvenility or otherwise of Hussain.
The IHC has delayed the execution for one day as Justice Athar Minallah issued stay order on Shafqat Hussain’s petition in an interim order .
It is pertinent to mention here that on March 19 his execution was halted by objections from human rights group which claimed that he was juvenile when he committed the crime.
After that interior ministry had formed special committee to ascertain the age of convicted at a time of crime dispensation.
The committee after complete investigation submitted its report to the ministry that he was not juvenile or not less 18 year of age when he committed the crime.
Hussain was arrested and sentenced to death in 2004 for kidnapping and killing a seven-year-old boy from an apartment building in Karachi where he was working as a guard.
