ANSAR IQBAL Age at time of conviction: 14 Years on death row: 29 Status: Executed on 29 September 2015 Sentenced to death on the basis of police’s visual assesment of his age Ansar Iqbal was 14 years old when he was arrested along with co-accused Ghulam Shabbir for the alleged murder of his neighbour in 1994. Both Ansar and Ghulam claimed to be under the age of 18 at the time of occurrence (on 9 June 1994) and at the time of the trial that commenced two years later. During his trial, Ansar’s lawyer produced both a School Leaving Certificate and a certified copy of the government birth record, Form-B in support of his juvenility. In his statement under S. 342, Ansar recorded his age as 17 years and 6 months at the time of recording the statement on 23 July 1996 – which is also consistent with the documentary evidence produced. However, the trial court dismissed the School Leaving Certificate and the Form B (on the ground that it was a duplicate document that bore discrepancies). Ghulam Shabbir similarly maintained his juvenility at trial and offered his Form-B National Registration document in support. However, the trial court dismissed this document as well, on the grounds that it appeared fake. Having dismissed all documentary evidence in support of Ghulam and Ansar’s juvenility, the trial Court chose to rely upon the police’s assessment that Ansar appeared to be “22/23” years of age and sentenced him to death. Similarly, despite dismissing Ghulam’s juvenility, the trial court spared him the sentence of death on the grounds that the police had recorded his age as “16/17 years.” The Court noted: “As far as Ghulam Shabbir is concerned, according to the police papers he is stated to be 16/17 years old and according to the injunction of Islam the punishment of Qisas is not applicable to him therefore I convict him u/s 302-C PPC and he is sentenced to undergo imprisonment for 20 years.” Following this, Ansar raised his juvenility on appeal to the Lahore High Court, which dismissed the claim on the same grounds as the trial Court – that no witnesses had been produced to prove the authenticity of the records and so they could not be relied upon. The Lahore High Court reiterated the difference in treatment between Ansar and Ghulam’s juvenility claims, however, and partly allowed Ghulam’s appeal on account of his juvenility. His sentence was altered from Section 302(c) PPC to Section 308 PPC and his sentence was reduced from life imprisonment to 14 years. Similarly, the Supreme Court of Pakistan rejected Ansar’s appeal vide its judgment dated 19 May 2009. On 21 February 2015, Ansar Iqbal was finally issued a government issued birth certificate by the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) which gave him the same date of birth as provided on the Form-B national registration form produced at trial. The document was submitted to the Supreme Court of Pakistan and a review of his sentence of his execution was requested. The Supreme Court, however, termed the review as time barred and refused to consider it. Ansar Iqbal was executed on 29 September 2015.