Pending death penalty appeals decrease from 384 to 107; 449 resolved and 172 new presented since October 26, 2024
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan’s Supreme Court has decided to resolve all pending death penalty appeals in the next 45 days, the court announced on Wednesday.
The decision was taken during the monthly Reform Action Plan meeting chaired by Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi. The session was attended by the president and secretary of the Supreme Court Bar Association, as well as other relevant officials.
During the meeting, officials briefed participants on the progress of case categorization, which is expected to be completed within two months. A barcode system to track case files will be fully implemented in the next 15 days. The session also reviewed jail appeals in criminal and death penalty cases.
According to the report, when CJP Afridi assumed office, as on October 26, 2024, there were 384 death penalty appeals pending. That number has now decreased to 107 pending appeals. Since that date, 172 new appeals have been filed and 449 appeals have been resolved.
The court also reviewed life sentence appeals, which stood at 4,160 when CJP Afridi took charge and have now declined to 3,608. A timeline for resolving death penalty appeals will be established once death penalty appeals are finalized.
It was decided that priority will be given to prison requests for convicts aged 80 or older. Officials noted that a large portion of court records have been digitized and CJP Afridi thanked the bar association for providing electronic copies of the petitions and supporting e-filing.
