ISLAMABAD: A three-member Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali on Tuesday summoned details of prisoners across the country awaiting death sentence.
Barrister Zafarullah Khan, counsel for a prisoner awaiting death sentence, told the court that 8, 000 prisoners all over the country were awaiting death sentence. He said 6, 355 such prisoners were only in the Punjab province.
He said the appeals of 896 such prisoners were pending for adjudication before the Supreme Court. Besides, he said four such appeals were pending in the General Headquarter GHQ. Similarly, he said 27 such appeals were pending before the Federal Shariat Court.
To a court query, he said 355 mercy petitions of such prisoners were pending before the President. Meanwhile, the court directed the Deputy Attorney General to produce details of such prisoners and adjourned further hearing for indefinite period.