Daily Times

The right to afair trial is an important facet of a democratic polity governed by the rule of law. Every person against whom a criminal charge is levied, is entitled to a fair trial. However, there are many prisoners in Pakistani jails who are seeking legal aid and one of them is Muhammad Iqbal alias ‘Bali’, who has been in the Gujrat jail for the last 18 years. Bali was a juvenile when he committed the offense that landed him in prison, back in 1999. He was charged under the PPC section 392 and 302. The police during the investigation accused him of dacoiti and murder.  For this purpose, he was sentenced to death by the Special Court under the AntiTerrorism Act of 1997, and then his subsequent appeals to the High Court, as well as the Supreme Court, were also turned down.

Pakistan passed the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance (JJSO) in the year 2000, and ratified the Child Registration Certificate(CRC) in the same year. While these measures were monumental for the protection of children rights in Pakistan, the implantation of the JJSO has been slow and indecisive.

Most importantly, some of its provisions are not implemented at all, Within the JJSO is clearly mentioned that there will be separate juvenile courts, it also outlines specialised procedures for arrest, investigation, bail, trial, and the rehabilitation of juvenile offenders. However these young offenders are often tried alongside other adult criminals in regular courts, owing to the nonexistence of special juvenile courts. This is a serious breach of JJSO 2000.

A report by Amnesty International stated that “despite the promulgation of the JJSO the rights of young people accused of criminal offences continue to be denied”. However, in practice many of the provisions of the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000 remain unimplemented, thereby jeopardising the rights of minors to due process and fair trial.

Muhammad Iqbal was a juvenile at the time of the alleged offence for which he was sentenced to death in accordance with his school leaving certificate and birth certificate issued by the Union Council. It is appropriate to mention that his trial was concluded one year prior to the promulgation of the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance 2000 (JJSO) which prohibited the execution of juveniles. JJSO section 12 prohibits the sentencing to death of any person who was under 18 at the time of his or her alleged offence.

Here the point to be noted is that when the trial of Muhammad Iqbal was in progress, Pakistan was a party to UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). CRC and ICCPR prohibited awarding of the death sentence to juveniles and ensuring equality to children eradicating all forms of torture and discrimination. It is therefore admitted that awarding a death sentence to Muhammad Iqbal, who was a juvenile was an unfair decision and arbitrary. However, the co-accused persons in his case were discharged from jail after completing their sentences, Iqbal has not been offered the same respite, and he was not even allowed to go to his parent’s funerals either, both of them have died without seeing their son receive the fair justice he deserved. Thus, it is fair to say that Muhammad Iqbal’s death sentence and execution are in violation of Pakistan’s international obligations under the CRC and the ICCPR, as well as domestic law.

Thus, it is fair to say that Muhammad Iqbal’s death sentence and execution are in violation of Pakistan’s international obligations under the CRC and the ICCPR, as well as domestic law

While talking with Bali he is of the view that he needs a fair trial from the respected judiciary and he has spent almost 19 years in jail, so the court should take up this case. He further said during his trial the High Court issued directions for the determination of my age from the medical board but sadly they also followed the police who intentionally wrote his age above then 18. He said that for years he lived in overcrowded detention with very few facilities awaiting the conclusion of my trial. Moreover, when he was arrested he was a kid forced to share his cell with adults while in police custody.This lead to various forms of torture or ill-treatment, including being beaten, hung upside down, or whipped with a rubber strap or specially-designed leather slipper. Moreover, despite a law that requires police to bring criminal suspects before a judge within twenty-four hours of arrest, hespend days in detention before seeing a judge.

Iqbal was set to be sent to the gallows last year in 2017, after the dismissal of his first mercy petition by the president of Pakistan but his second mercy petition was filed on humanitarian grounds by Sarmad Ali, and it was tentatively acknowledged by the office of the President’s Secretariat in Islamabad, which forwarded it to the Office of Ministry of Interior for further follow up. This acknowledgment of his second mercy petition resulted in a temporary stay in his execution, subject to the result of his clemency plea, which is currently pending adjudication in the office of the President.

While talking to Sarmad Ali who is looking after this case said when “Bali” committed this incident of the murder he was of 12 to 13 years as per his Union Councils birth certificate, so he could not be held criminally responsible for the killings. He should have been given some sort of flexibility and after a year of prison, he should have been treated in accordance with the protection of the JJSO. Further, he said, “JJSO provides important protection for children and it should be permanently reinstated and strengthened. However, its implementation requires attention. In particular, the geographical coverage of the JJSO and the establishment and jurisdiction of juvenile courts need to be addressed”. Further, he said that Bali also did not receive a fair trial. The state-appointed lawyer, for instance, never raised the fact that he was a juvenile at the time of the alleged offence.

Through this write-up, I want to request the newly established government and importantly the President of Pakistan, Arif Alvi to look up the issue of Iqbal alias Bali and facilitate him and provide fair justice. He has spent years in prison as he was a juvenile at the time of conviction.  In spite of the delay in deciding a clemency plea, it is not only inhumane but is also reasonable grounds for the condemned prisoner to be discharged from jail.

The writer is a social and political activist based in Lahore. He has done his Maters and MPhil in Communication Studies.He can be reached at salmanali088@gmail.com, tweets at Salmani_salu

Published in Daily Times, October 1, 2018.