Pakistan's top court blocks execution of schizophrenic murder convict ?
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Pakistan's Supreme Court on Monday blocked the execution of a paranoid schizophrenic murder convict pending a review of an earlier ruling that his condition was not a permanent mental disorder and therefore not legally relevant, his lawyers said. Rights groups have denounced the possible execution of Imdad Ali, 50, who government doctors certified as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia in 2012, following his conviction for the 2001 murder of a cleric. He was due to be executed on Wednesday, according to execution orders issued last week. But the Supreme Court agreed to review an Oct. 21 ruling on Ali's final appeal, when the court ruled that schizophrenia did not fall within Pakistan's legal definition of mental disorders."We welcome the decision ... which will be integral in showing Pakistan's commitment to its international human rights obligations," said Zainab Malik, head of advocacy at Justice Project Pakistan, a legal aid g...
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Monday blocked the execution of a paranoid schizophrenic murder convict pending a review of an earlier ruling that his condition was not a permanent mental disorder and therefore not legally relevant, his lawyers said. Rights groups have denounced the possible execution of Imdad Ali, 50, who government doctors certified as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia in 2012, following his conviction for the 2001 murder of a cleric. He was due to be executed on Wednesday, according to execution orders issued last week. But the Supreme Court agreed to review an Oct. 21 ruling on Ali's final appeal, when the court ruled that schizophrenia did not fall within Pakistan's legal definition of mental disorders.
"We welcome the decision ... which will be integral in showing Pakistan's commitment to its international human rights obligations," said Zainab Malik, head of advocacy at Justice Project Pakistan, a legal aid group representing Ali. The court scheduled a hearing for the second week of November. Pakistan ended a virtual moratorium on capital punishment in 2014 after Pakistani Taliban gunmen massacred more than 150 people, most of them children, at a school. Since then, 425 people have been hanged. Rights groups, lawyers and medical professionals condemned the October ruling clearing the way for Ali's execution as running contrary to established medical knowledge and setting a dangerous precedent in cases involving the mentally ill. (Source: Reuters)
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Thousands of pilgrims come together each year to take part in the annual Walk to Mary, which takes place on the first Saturday of May in Wisconsin. The 21-mile pilgrimage starts at the National Shrine of St. Joseph in De Pere, Wisconsin, and ends at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion in Champion, Wisconsin. / Credit: The Shrine of Our Lady of ChampionCNA Staff, May 2, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).Thousands of pilgrims come together each year to take part in the annual Walk to Mary, which takes place on the first Saturday of May in Wisconsin. The 21-mile pilgrimage starts at the National Shrine of St. Joseph in De Pere, Wisconsin, and ends at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion in Champion, Wisconsin.The Walk to Mary will take place on May 4 this year and includes several "join in" points along the route that offer participants unable to walk the entire distance to participate. These locations shorten the pilgrimage length, allowing pilgrims of all ages to take part in...
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null / Credit: Juthamat8899/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, May 1, 2024 / 17:05 pm (CNA).The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released a new report on Wednesday highlighting the countries with the worst religious persecution in the world.From this report, which is released annually, USCIRF makes recommendations to the State Department on how to best advocate for religious freedom. The suggestions typically translate into sanctions from the U.S. against violating countries to pressure them to improve their religious tolerance. This year, the countries topping USCIRF's list of the world's most egregious religious freedom violators were Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Burma, China, Cuba, Eritrea, India, Iran, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam.USCIRF recommends these nations be designated as "countries of particul...