Pending death penalty appeals drop from 384 to 107; 449 resolved and 172 new filed since October 26, 2024
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan’s Supreme Court has decided to decide all pending death penalty appeals within 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 meeting was attended by the President and Secretary of the Supreme Court Bar Association along with other relevant officials.
During the meeting, officials informed the participants about the progress of the case categorization, which is expected to be completed within two months. A bar code system for tracking case files will be fully implemented within the next 15 days. The session also reviewed prison appeals in capital and criminal cases.
According to the briefing, when CJP Afridi assumed office, 384 death penalty appeals were pending on 26 October 2024. This number has now come down to 107 pending appeals. Since that date, 172 new complaints have been filed and 449 complaints have been resolved.
The court also heard appeals on life imprisonment, which stood at 4,160 when CJP Afridi took office and has now fallen to 3,608. A timetable for the decision of life sentence appeals will be determined after the conclusion of death penalty appeals.
It was decided that prison applications for convicts aged 80 or over must be prioritized. Officials noted that a large portion of the judicial records have been digitized and CJP Afridi thanked the bar for providing soft copies of petitions and e-filing support.
