Abdul Basit, convicted murderer and victim of paraplegia in Pakistan, has received an extension on his scheduled hanging for not being able to stand at the gallows during his execution.
The Pakistani government's battles with the Taliban and other Islamic terrorist groups has caused them to reinstate the death penalty in December 2014. This action has since caused the death of 239 people within a nine-month period, according to BBC News. Execution around the world has been a widely debated topic.
Basit, 43, was convicted six years ago of killing his then-lover's uncle but has always maintained his innocence, Amnesty International reported. While in jail, he contracted meningitis, which cost him his ability to walk and all feeling in his lower extremities. This condition rendered Basit's handing not possible, as he was not properly treated for it.
"When the judicial magistrate came to the hanging, these guys tried to make him (Basit) stand at the gallows ... it wasn't possible, so the magistrate postponed the hanging," said Wassam Waheed, a spokesman for legal aid group Justice Project Pakistan, according to The Independent.
Basit's lawyer stated that his hanging would constitute cruel and unusual punishment, which other people, like Basit's mother, cosign. "Why do they want his execution? He is already severely sick, what will they get from his hanging?" said Basit's mother, Nusrat Perveen.
The country with the highest rate of execution at the end of last year was Iraq, with a total of 61 deaths.
