Disabled Pakistani prisoner faces being hanged from his wheelchair

A disabled prisoner faces being hanged from his wheelchair to the outrage of campaigners.

Abdul Basit was convicted of murder in 2009 and lost the use of his legs after developing tuberculosis a year later.

Prison officials in Pakistan are reported to be pressing ahead with plans for his execution by hanging - despite the fact he cannot stand.

Human rights campaign group Reprieve have said his death would be a "cruel and violent spectacle".

The 43-year-old's legal team managed to obtain a stay of execution after a warrant was issued on July 29.

But a final hearing is set to be heard on August 25 deciding whether he will be executed.

Basit's lawyers say hanging a man in a wheelchair is against prison rules as he cannot stand or support his own weight - making it impossible to measure the length of rope needed to hang him.

In a letter to Pakistan's president Manmoon Hussain, they said: "Given that the condemned prisoner is unable to use his lower body to support his own weight and unable to stand, it is not possible to accurately measure the length of rope required for his hanging.

"Consequently, no provision can be safely made for the accurate measurement of the rope that would hang him and to proceed with an inaccurately-measured length of rope would place him at risk of an appalling death."

(Daily Mirror)