I’m innocent!
By mandeep singh and sara sami
Published: 11th December 2006
A PAKISTANI man facing execution today for murder pleaded his innocence in a heart-rending “final statement” to his brother yesterday.
Mohammed Hanif Atta Mohammed, 37, is one of three people facing the firing squad today for two separate murders.
He and his lover Suraya Ghuloom Hussain, 42, were convicted of murdering her 72-year-old Bahraini husband in August 2003.
Two Bangladeshis are also due to be executed today, for the murder of Bahraini mother-of-two Latifa Abdulla Abdulaziz in November 2004.
Housemaid Jasmine Anwar Hussain, 23 and her accomplice, Mohammed Hilaluddin, 33, smashed Ms Abdulaziz’s head with a pickaxe at her home in Buhair, in the mistaken belief that there was gold in her safe.
I’m innocent!
By mandeep singh and sara sami
Published: 11th December 2006
A PAKISTANI man facing execution today for murder pleaded his innocence in a heart-rending “final statement” to his brother yesterday.
Mohammed Hanif Atta Mohammed, 37, is one of three people facing the firing squad today for two separate murders.
He and his lover Suraya Ghuloom Hussain, 42, were convicted of murdering her 72-year-old Bahraini husband in August 2003.
Two Bangladeshis are also due to be executed today, for the murder of Bahraini mother-of-two Latifa Abdulla Abdulaziz in November 2004.
Housemaid Jasmine Anwar Hussain, 23 and her accomplice, Mohammed Hilaluddin, 33, smashed Ms Abdulaziz’s head with a pickaxe at her home in Buhair, in the mistaken belief that there was gold in her safe.
Mohammed and Suraya were convicted of killing her husband Ibrahim Al Asmawi by beating him unconscious, dousing him and his Manama home with fuel and setting it ablaze.
Suraya, who has a son by Mohammed, was jailed for 25 years.
Sources said the executions would be carried out inside Jaw prison, at an undisclosed time.
Only three people will witness the executions – the judge who sentenced the killers, the prison chief and the prison medical officer, said sources.
Mohammed pleaded his innocence in a phone call to his brother in Bahrain yesterday.
He said Suraya and “her henchmen” committed the murder and blamed it on him.
Mohammed claimed that he only took the blame in court to protect the woman he loved from the death sentence.
“I have not killed anyone. I took the blame for the killing to protect my lover, whose henchmen, in fact, killed her husband,” Mohammed Punnoo quoted his brother as saying, in a phone call from inside the prison after being told he would be shot today.
“I took the blame only to protect my lover so that she may be saved from the gallows. God is my witness. I will not lie now that I know I have only a few hours to live.”
Earlier in the day, Mr Punnoo met Moham-med after prison authorities summoned him to the jail – though neither knew then that the execution day had been set.
Mr Punnoo said later that he still hoped for an eleventh-hour reprieve.
“I am convinced the Bahrain judicial system has been fair but, at the same time, I believe, the authorities will take a very humane look at the case,” he said.
He said he could not comprehend why his brother did not plead his innocence during his trial, as he had done now.
“I wish he had said this long ago. He should have told this to the court,” said Mr Punnoo, who works for a contracting company.
He said he had also last week sent a written request to His Majesty King Hamad to pardon his brother.
“I have said in my request, through the Pakistan Embassy in Bahrain, that my brother’s execution would jeopardise the future of his two disabled children and his wife,” said Mr Punnoo.
“We would be grateful and indebted if the sentence could be converted to life (25 years) in prison.”
He said that though prison authorities had refused to either confirm or deny any response to his plea, the embassy had said no response had been received.
“We are all hoping he would get a pardon even though he has been sentenced to death,” said Mr Punnoo.
He said Mohammed’s family was in dire straits. “They will not be able to take the shock of his execution,” said Mr Punnoo.
“They are hanging on to hope now. I hope their trust in the compassion of His Majesty will not be broken.”
Officials at the Pakistani and Bangladeshi embassies in Bahrain confirmed they had been informed that the executions were to take place today.
Mohammed also appealed for mercy to the authorities last week, through a letter he handed to Pakistani Embassy officials during a jail visit.
But there has been no response to either plea, an embassy official said yesterday.
The official refused to comment further on the issue.
Pakistan’s Ansar Burney Trust, an organisation that works with human rights bodies all over the world, has also sent in a representation on behalf of Mohammed to the Bahrain government, sources told the GDN yesterday.
But they said the organisation did not expect a favourable response.
His Majesty confirmed all three death sentences on November 21.
They were imposed after separate trials in the High Criminal Court.
Suraya’s three daughters, aged 10, 13 and 15, pleaded through the GDN last month for their mother to be freed.
They said they did not believe she was guilty and that they wanted her home.
Suraya’s three-year-old son by Mohammed is with her in prison.
Pakistani community leaders had been hoping to negotiate a “blood money” deal with the family, to spare Mohammed from the death sentence.
They would not comment last night.
Officials at the Bangladesh Embassy confirmed that they had been informed that Jasmine and Hilaluddin were to be executed today, but would not comment further.
But First Secretary Shameem Al Mammum told the GDN when sentences were confirmed by His Majesty that the law had taken its course and that the embassy had “complete confidence” in the justice system.
© Gulf Daily News
