WANSTEAD man Ahmed Sheikh has been incarcerated in an isolation cell where he will remain until he is hanged or freed on appeal this autumn.

Just like the 78 other condemned inmates on Hyderabad Jail's death row, Sheikh will have a permanent armed guard posted outside his cell and will only be allowed to meet close family members once a week.

The death sentence is common in Pakistan. More than 200 prisoners were executed last year for crimes ranging from murder to sedition.

Executions are always by hanging and take place in front of prison officials and a doctor, with no other witnesses allowed.

Sheikh's lawyer, Rai Bashir, said he would lodge an appeal against the sentence in the High Court within the stipulated seven days and if this is rejected, Sheikh can go to the Pakistani Supreme Court.

According to Amnesty International, the death penalty can be imposed for a number of offences in Pakistan. These include murder, murder in the course of a robbery and offences against property.

Capital punishment can also be meted out for anything from waging war, kidnapping for ransom, causing grievous bodily harm or hijacking or harbouring a hijacker.

The death penalty is mandatory for blasphemy, sex outside marriage, rape and murder, subject to specific evidential requirements and other conditions are fulfilled.

It is most frequently imposed for murder and in 1995, some 127 people were sentenced to death for murder, 13 for kidnapping and four for blasphemy.

Amnesty says the real number of death sentences and executions may be much higher than that reported in the media.

Under Islamic law, the punishment for murder, homicide or infliction of injury can either be in the form of qisas (equal punishment for the crime committed) or diyat (compensation payable to the victim or heirs of the victim). These concepts are applied differently in different Islamic systems.

The Qisas and Diyat Ordinance decrees that the death penalty may be given as qisas for intentionally causing death, or for causing the death of someone other than the person intended.

Death sentences under the Qisas and Diyat Ordinance can only be carried out if confirmed by the appropriate high court.

Even once the death sentence has been confirmed, it cannot be carried out if the heirs of the victim pardon the convict or reach a compromise with the convict. Indeed, an execution can be halted by the heirs even at the last moment before the execution of the sentence.

Commenting on the death penalty, the director of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, I.A. Rahman, said: "Even in countries where the system of justice is unexceptionally sound, the death penalty is considered a miscarriage of justice. Considering the state our system of justice has fallen into and the known penchant of police for prosecuting the innocent even when the guilty ones can be apprehended, in Pakistan the death penalty can only be described as unmitigated bestiality."

If Sheikh is hanged, his body will immediately be returned to his family for burial but security authorities are concerned his funeral could become a rally for thousands of Islamic militants and spill over into street violence.

July 18, 2002 13:00