ATC issues black warrants for Shafqat Hussain, to be executed on August 4

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KARACHI: Anti Terrorism Court in Karachi on Monday (today) issued black warrant of condemned prisoner Shafqat Hussain for August 4.

The convicted prisoner will hanged till death in Central Jail Karachi in early morning of the day.

It is pertinent to mention here that the convict had to be hanged on March 19 but President Mamnnon Hussain had postponed the execution after appeals by human rights groups for a review of his case to verify age of the convict.

On April 18, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) dismissed claims that Shafqat Hussain was a minor when he was arrested and sentenced in 2004 for the kidnapping and involuntary murder of a seven-year-old boy, who lived in a Karachi apartment building where he worked as a security guard.

Confusion over Shafqat’s date of birth raised questions of whether he was a juvenile or of lawful age in 2004 to be handed the death sentence.

FIA sources confirmed that even in the jail records, Shafqat Hussain’s age was not 14 years at the time he was arrested, nor was he under the age of 18.

Hussain’s case has caused outrage from rights campaigners, who complain he did not get a fair trial and was only 15 at the time of the killing.