[JURIST] A Pakistani court on Tuesday suspended the execution of a paraplegic prisoner after numerous human rights groups claimed that a hanging would be cruel and inhumane. The suspension of the execution comes after Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] urged [press release] the Pakistani government earlier this week to halt the execution of paralyzed prisoner Abdul Basit, arguing that Pakistan’s use of capital punishment is inherently cruel to those with a disability. Basit was sentenced to death in 2009 after being convicted of murder and has been held in prison since his trial. While in prison, Basit contracted tubercular meningitis in 2010, which led to him being paralyzed from the waist down. HRW’s Asia Director Brad Adams Criticized the Pakistani government stating, “[r]ather than confronting the inherent cruelty of capital punishment, Pakistani officials are puzzling over how to hang a man in a wheelchair.” Basit’s execution had been scheduled for Tuesday morning with no alternative punishment announced by the Pakistani government.

Pakistan’s use of the death penalty since December has received criticism throughout the world. When the six-year death penalty moratorium was lifted [JURIST report] last December, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said the death penalty would only be applied to terrorism-related cases. However, in March the Pakistan Ministry of Interior lifted the country’s moratorium on the death penalty, permitting hangings for all prisoners [JURIST report] who have exhausted all possible appeals. Amnesty International called on Pakistan in January to end the increase in executions following the Peshwar school attack, and in February the rights group said that use of the death penalty in Pakistan is undergoing a “disturbing and dangerous” [JURIST reports] escalation after the execution of two men convicted of non-terrorism offenses. Also in March a judge in Pakistan’s Lahore District and Sessions Court sentenced [JURIST report] an offender to death for blasphemy. Additionally in March, Pakistani authorities hanged 12 men [JURIST report], the largest number of people executed in a single day since the moratorium was lifted.