If a Person is Mentally Ill, How Can You Hang Them?
NMAP has been working with Justice Project Pakistan for nearly two years on a multimedia campaign that advocates for a return of the moratorium on the death penalty in Pakistan. One of our project’s goals has been to stop the use of the death penalty in cases where the accused suffers from mental illness.
Our 2017 video about Imdad Ali’s case demonstrated how his schizophrenia should have exempted him from the death penalty according to Pakistan’s own international human rights obligations.
Last month, we released an animated video that shed light on Kanizan Bibi’s story. Kanizan was arrested at 16 (according to her father) for a murder she didn’t commit, tortured until she confessed, and sentenced to death by hanging. She has spent three decades on death row—she’s been mute the entire time.
Both videos have received significant attention from the Pakistani press, and have generated rigorous debate and discussion among the public. In Pakistan, 90% of the public is in favor of the death penalty. Our work has been focused on using multimedia storytelling to show how systemic issues like problematic policing practices and the country’s haphazard approach to documentation (birth certificates, etc.) mean that the death penalty can’t be trusted as an effective punishment for crimes committed or as a deterrent. Instead, it’s simply a practice that preys on vulnerable populations, like women, juveniles, and persons with mental illness—the majority of whom also happen to be poor. There aren’t any millionaires on death row in Pakistan.
Less than two weeks after we released Kanizan’s story, a two-member bench–comprising the Chief Justice and Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan — at the Supreme Court ruled that Pakistan’s international human rights obligations make it clear that a mentally ill prisoner cannot be hanged.
“If a person is mentally ill, how can you hang them?” asked the Honorable Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, while hearing Imdad and Kanizan’s cases in Lahore.
As a result, Kanizan has been transferred to a secure mental health facility and appointed a psychiatrist. The Justices told representatives from the Punjab Mental Health Institute to ensure that she receives the medical treatment that she so badly needs, with the judgement specifically noting that Kanizan, “shall be provided the best available medical facilities.”
This is huge.
To have two Justices on the Supreme Court reference both of our subjects in their statement serves as a prime example of how multimedia storytelling can contribute to major policy impact if it’s grounded in an organized, long-term campaign like Justice Project Pakistan has created.
Rimmel Mohydin, JPP Spokesperson adds:
We are thrilled that the Supreme Court is upholding human rights and basic human decency. The notion of a penal punishment is wasted on the mentally ill. Mentally ill prisoners like Kanizan and Imdad need all the protection that they can get, and the SC today must be credited for clarifying why they cannot be punished. In doing so, we are on our way to set a very important and much needed precedent.
The Pakistani Supreme Court has also proven that for human rights organizations to be effective in the face of entrenched issues and abuses, they have to stop relying on simply delivering messages and instead focus on telling stories that change hearts and minds.
