Pakistan defers execution of paraplegic convict

Abdul Basit, 43, was scheduled to be executed in Faisalabad Central Jail in <g data-gr-id="23">Punjab</g> but the decision was not implemented.

Ordering the postponement, a magistrate said that Basit could not be <g data-gr-id="17">hanged</g> in compliance with the jail manual because he is in a wheelchair.

According to the local laws, the convict should stand up on the platform for the <g data-gr-id="19">noose</g> but in case of Basit, he is bound to <g data-gr-id="20">wheel-chair</g>, an official said.

The authorities are considering seeking <g data-gr-id="29">opinion</g> of the home department in Punjab and inspector general of jails in the province on how to carry out the execution.

There was no official confirmation of when the execution would take place. Basit was convicted in 2009 for killing a man over a financial <g data-gr-id="27">dispute</g> but he suffered tuberculosis meningitis in 2010 and an attack of paralysis which disabled the lower part of his body.