FEATURED POST

Unveiling Singapore’s Death Penalty Discourse: A Critical Analysis of Public Opinion and Deterrent Claims

Image
While Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) maintains a firm stance on the effectiveness of the death penalty in managing drug trafficking in Singapore, the article presents evidence suggesting that the methodologies and interpretations of these studies might not be as substantial as portrayed.

Pakistani woman acquitted after 20 years on death row

Asma Nawab
KARACHI: A Pakistani woman infamously put on death row for killing her family in 1998 has been acquitted and walked free after 20 years in prison, her lawyer said Friday (Apr 6).

Asma Nawab was just 16 when her parents and brother were murdered in 1998, apparently during an attempted robbery in the southern port megacity Karachi.

The familial nature of the murders sent a chill through the city, setting them apart from the political, ethnic and sectarian violence that gripped Karachi for many years.

"Not sufficient evidences"


Nawab, her then-fiance Farhan Ahmed and two others were arrested and sentenced to death, accused of killing the family as they had not given permission for the couple to marry.

Appeals moved slowly through Pakistan's creaky justice system. It was not until 2015 that her lawyers petitioned the Supreme Court, which - after a three-year hearing - ordered Nawab and the others to be released.

"The Supreme Court ruled that there was not sufficient evidences against my client and thus she was set free," Javed Chatari, who was been Nawab's lawyer since 1998, told AFP.

She left prison on Thursday.

Financial compensation


With no family left, Chatari said, he took her to Karachi's famous waterfront hoping that the breeze and the sight of the Arabian Sea buffeting the sands would help her understand that her 20-year ordeal was over.

"We made her ride on the horse on the Clifton Beach and later had a dinner, and then she started realising she was free," Chatari said.

Nawab - who is expected to visit her family home on Saturday for the first time since the murders - could legally file a case against the state, he said.

But, describing her as a poor and lonely woman, he thought it unlikely she would.

"That would be a tough call for her," he told AFP.

Source: Agence France-Presse, April 6, 2018


⚑ | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com.


Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!



"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

Most Viewed (Last 7 Days)

California | San Quentin begins prison reform - but not for those on death row

Missouri Supreme Court declines to halt execution of man who killed couple in 2006

Oklahoma | Death row inmate Michael DeWayne Smith denied stay of execution

Indonesia | Bali Prosecutors Seeking Death on Appeal

China | Former gaming executive sentenced to death in poisoning of billionaire Netflix producer

Ohio dad could still face death penalty in massacre of 3 sons after judge tosses confession

Georgia Executes Willie James Pye