Pakistan hanged a man Tuesday who claimed to have been 15 when he was arrested for a murder he didn't commit, casting a light on Pakistan's haphazard and corrupt justice system.
Ansar Iqbal had said he and a friend were arrested 16 years ago for the alleged murder of a neighbor. Official records indicate that the victim's family accused Iqbal of killing the neighbor over a game of cricket, but Iqbal claims police framed him for the murder by planting two guns at his house, according to Channel NewsAsia.
Despite his protests, Iqbal was hanged Tuesday morning in the Pakistani city of Sargodha. Afterwards, according to authorities, his body was handed over to his family.
Ignoring the fact that Iqbal claimed he did not commit the crime, which authorities didn't appear to look into, Pakistani law prohibits the execution of someone arrested as a juvenile, reported the Bharat Press. The court reportedly did not examine Iqbal's school records and birth certificate which list his age as 14 and 15 respectively. In their defense, the court said the documents were submitted too late.
"All the documentary evidence provided to the courts during his trial or appeal indicates that he was a child at the time of the alleged offense; however, the courts have chosen to believe the estimate of police officers that he was in his 20s," British legal aid group Reprieve said in a statement.
Originally abolished, Pakistan brought back hanging in December as a means to discourage militancy after Taliban gunmen killed more than 130 pupils at an army-run school.
Since then, 240 people were hanged, but few of them had any links to militancy beyond hearsay.
Many of those executed, like Iqbal, were convicted of murder. Just like in Iqbal's case, many of the families claim the defendants were falsely accused, but were too poor to get good lawyers.
Pakistan's criminal system is widely considered corrupt. Authorities have been known to ask for and accept bribes, and few are properly trained in preserving a crime scene or collecting evidence. Rather than use normal investigation methods, they rely on easily manipulated oral statements and torture to obtain convictions.
