Islamabad, October 10, 2013: Speakers and participants at a seminar organised by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Friday unanimously opposed a generalized application of the death penalty and were also in agreement that in over two dozen capital offences on the statute books the death penalty was not mandated by Islam.

At the day-long seminar in Islamabad on October 10, World Day against the Death Penalty, entitled ‘death penalty in Pakistan: the way forward’, speakers from Pakistan and abroad discussed the various aspects of capital punishment.

Professor Roger Hood, Professor Emeritus of Criminology at the University of Oxford, in his keynote address covered the various aspects application of the death penalty and the abolitionist movement worldwide. Maryam Haq Advocate, from Justice Project Pakistan, highlighted the pervasive miscarriage of justice that those charged with death penalty offences suffered. Saroop Ijaz Advocate recounted the problems of criminal justice from the perspective of a defence attorney. Anees Jillani Advocate made the case for the juveniles though he opposed abolition of the death penalty. Aslam Khaki Advocate presented the Islamic point of view on the death penalty and agreed that death penalty death penalty for many offences could be abolished. Arthur Wilson made the case for justice for reconciliation and reformation and not for retribution. This was followed by accounts of families of death row convicts. The participants included legal practitioners, and civil society organistions’ representatives.

Several speakers called continuation of the moratorium on executions in Pakistana welcome step for which the government deserved the praise it was getting. Mr. Kamran Arif, the HRCP co-chairperson, chaired the event shared his views on the death penalty and his experience as a lawyer and a rights activist. HRCP Secretary General I.A. Rehman explained the Commission’s commitment to the right to life for all and the importance for discussing this important subject. The following points were referred to the government’s attention.

1.    The moratorium on executions must lead to early abolition of capital punishment in the country.

2.    Lessons must be learned from the experience of the past five years, where the executions were stayed but the courts continued to hand down capital punishment. This has led to an ever-rising death row population in what had been, even at the best of times, cramped conditions of detention. That must no longer be ignored. There is no reason why individuals convicted of a crime should be forced to suffer prohibition against cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment and denial of rights during detention.

3.    The sentences of all those convicted under capital offences should be commuted to prison terms.

4.    There is no reasons why an open and frank discussion should not be held on the critical and well-documented deficiencies of the law and administration of justice, the investigation ‘methods’ of the police and chronic corruption, lack of any special deterrent effect, and how the system is loaded against the poor, and lack of financial means puts those accused of death penalty offences at a serious disadvantage. The incompatibility of the death penalty with the prohibition against cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment and with a human rights culture must also be highlighted as the government has ratified International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) without any reservation to Article 6.

5.    The government must explain to the people its reasons for persisting with the moratorium and facilitate an open discourse to get public support for its stance on capital punishment. A government committed to human rights should regard informing and leading the general public to appreciate and then to accept the human rights case for abolition as one of its primary tasks.

6.    Religion is often invoked to justify capital punishment in Pakistan, yet it is a fact is that only a couple of the 27 death penalty offences on the statute books in the country are argued to have been mandated by Islam. The discourse on capital punishment should consistently highlight that. Until the death penalty is deleted from statute books, the government should swiftly move to abolish the death penalty for over two dozen capital offences where such a punishment is acknowledged not to be religiously mandated.

7.    Capital punishment smacks of retributive ‘justice’ from ancient times that should have no place in modern society, where the objective must be the reformation, rehabilitation and reclaiming of a person to society, and not exacting revenge.

8.    At the international level, the number of countries that have voted in favour of the UN resolution for a moratorium on death sentences and executions continues to rise. Of the 41 countries, including Pakistan, which voted against the 2012 moratorium resolution, 16 have not executed any person for at least a decade. The government should consider voting in favour of the resolution, or at least abstain, when the next vote is taken in December 2014.

9.    It is high time that Pakistan ratified the second optional protocol to the ICCPR and became part of the efforts to promote abolition worldwide.

10. Rather than civil society and concerned citizens having to rely on media reports, the government must introduce a policy to ensure easy access to official data on the number of persons sentenced to death or executed. The UN Special Rapporteur for Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions has declared a refusal to publish data on the use of the death penalty as ‘a violation of human rights standards.

I. A. Rehman

Secretary General