MIRPUR (AJK)
Two convicts of a youth’s murder case were hanged in Central Jail Mirpur Friday morning, jail authorities said.
Fiyaz and Riaz, both residents of Saraye Alamgeer, Gujrat (Punjab), had been awarded capital punishment by the AJK Shariat Court in year 2005 on the charge of killing Raja Moaaz Rabbani (22), son of Raja Fazal Hussain Rabbani Advocate, former Advocate General of Azad Jammu & Kashmir and former President AJK Supreme Court Bar Association, at his resident in 2004.
District & Sessions Judge Mirpur had issued the death warrants of both the convicts about four days ago. The AJK Supreme Court had upheld the decision of the AJK Shariat Court over the appeals and review petitions filed by the convicts. AJK President Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan had also turned down their mercy petitions reportedly filed repeatedly.
Both the culprits were put to gallows till death at 6.30 Friday morning, Superintendent Central Jail Mirza Irshad Jaraal said. A duty magistrate and a medical officer were also present on the occasion according to the jail rules, he added.
Their bodies were later handed over to their relatives who took away them to their ancestral village in Saray e Alamgeer of Gujrat district. Their families and relatives had last meeting with them in Central Jail Mirpur on Thursday. They got registered their last wishes with their families, according to the jail authorities.
These were the first two hangings in any jail in Azad Jammu & Kashmir since the ban on the hanging of the convicts in various serious offences was lifted in Pakistan and Azad Jammu Kashmir after a pause of about seven years.
There are a total of 28 convicts who have been awarded capital punishment by the AJK courts in various serious offences including, murder and terrorism.
To a question, the superintendent said that it was the 6th hanging of the two convicts of the murder charge in the history of the ancient Central Jail Mirpur after 1947. Exceptional security was beefed up in and around the Central prison.