Why Death Penalty Is Always Given Before Sunrise And After Fajr In Pakistan?
I
am an advocate listed in Karachi Bar Association, Pakistan. One
day a friend of mine asked me a question to me, why the death sentence execution
is always done before sunrise and after fajr prayer in Pakistan? I don’t have
the answer to that question, so I decided to search for the right and correct
answer to that question. I asked my colleagues and seniors for the answer
but no one has an accurate answer. Everybody has his own answer but my
eagerness was not contented, so I keep on searching for this answer.
v When a DOE (date of execution) is
handed down it specifies a certain date. A new day begins at 12:00am or
midnight. Executions are usually carried out in the first few hours of a new
day. It is also a time when the general prison population is settled and
sleeping, the staff then can focus on the execution.
v Every state has its own laws on how and what time they carry out the death penalty. These decisions made by lawmakers are influenced by factors such as crowd and media control.
v This is a tradition, not a hard rule. The idea is that it allows the prisoner the opportunity to get a night's sleep and be fully rested and therefore most relaxed; does not have to wait all day for the end.
And
many more, but the question is still there as it is, why is this method used in
Pakistan which is an Islamic Republic country? And have his own way of
punishments written in the Quran and Shariah?
Then
an interesting answer which takes away my attention is.....
Exodus 20: 2 "If a thief is caught breaking in and is
struck so that he dies, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed; 3 but if it
happens after sunrise, he is guilty of bloodshed.
So they don't feel guilty of administering the death penalty of
a thief.
The Book of
Exodus or, simply, Exodus, is the second book of the Hebrew Bible (the sacred
writings of Judaism)
The book tells how the children of Israel leave slavery in Egypt
through the strength of Yahweh, the God who has chosen Israel as his people. Led by
their prophet Moses they
journey through the wilderness to Sinai. It is basically the bible of Israel.
And on this presumption basis, the death execution is always done before
sunrise as they assume that way The State or the executor will not be
guilty of bloodshed of the punished one.
From Where Method Of Hanged To Death Came?
5th Century. Hanging was first introduced as a
method of execution in Anglo-Saxon Britain, William Fitz Osbert became the
first to hang at Tyburn (for sedition). In
Britain, hanging was the principal form of execution from Anglo-Saxon times
until the death penalty was abolished in 1964. There were hundreds of
executions a year in the 16th and 17th centuries with the greatest number being
carried out at Tyburn, near what is now Marble Arch, at the end of Oxford
Street in London. Before this method the death sentence execution had been done
by drowning,
burial alive, hurling from cliffs, beheading, boiling alive, burning at the
stake and shooting, etc.
Why it is always done before Sunrise?
Islamic
point of view:
The sentences that are from the Shariah for the death penalty are either ‘beheading’ (for murder) or ‘stoning to death (for adultery) and these sentences are recommended to be carried out after Jumuah prayers so that a portion of the believers may be able to witness it. In Islam, hudood punishments are given for Ibrat (EXEMPLARY PUNISHMENT) and make sure that most of the people are there to witness the punishment.
After getting freedom from British rule in August 1947, we have no constitution to run our newly made country, so it is decided that the Government of India Act 1935 was used as a constitution with some changes. Automatically all administrating laws which promulgate are British in nature; even today we have an Islamic country with a British law system.
Thanks for the article. Really good one.
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