KANIZAN BIBI Years On Death Row: 26 Years Woman on death row tortured into insanity Kanizan Bibi was born into a very poor family and worked as a housemaid to help support her family. In 1989, her employer's wife and children were murdered, and Kanizan and her employer were subsequently arrested and convicted for the crimes. According to her family, the real culprits, who had been in a longstanding land dispute with the employer, had been arrested but released upon bribing the police, and had then filed a false police report accusing Kanizan. Kanizan has always maintained her innocence. Indeed, the only evidence presented at trial was highly suspect. (1) Her 'confession.' Kanizan was held for eleven days in police custody before being brought to the magistrate to confess. Her father recounts how the torture was so extreme that Kanizan had to be admitted to the hospital during that time. Kanizan's lawyers later challenged the admissibility of the confession, to no avail. (2) Her 'bloody clothes.' The trial court relied on blood-stained clothes the police asserted she was arrested in—a full thirteen days after the alleged crime. For the judge, however, this anomaly simply followed from the “so abnormal and foreign to ordinary human beings [the] killing of [a mother] and [five] innocent children.” As a result, the judge was “left with no doubt that both accused are real culprits.” Court after court upheld her conviction. Over the 26 years Kanizan has been on death row, her mental health deteriorated significantly. She is mute; at times unable to feed or clothe herself; and rarely recognizes or responds to family members. In 2000, she was diagnosed with schizophrenia, and in 2006, transferred to the Punjab Institute of Mental Health. In 2015, the President of Pakistan rejected Kanizan's mercy plea. Kanizan Bibi could be given a black warrant at any time. A “MOST SERIOUS CRIME”: PAKISTAN'S UNLAWFUL USE OF THE DEATH PENALTY 22