Pakistani lawmakers demand halt to execution of schizophrenic convict

A human rights committee in Pakistan's upper house of parliament has asked the country’s government to halt execution of a man suffering from schizophrenia that's due next week.

Lawmaker Farhatullah Babar says the committee will seek a pardon from President Mamnoon Hussain for 50-year-old Imdad Ali, a convict who was diagnosed in 2008.

Thursday’s development comes days after Pakistan's highest court rejected Ali's final appeal, claiming his disease does not qualify as a mental disorder.

Ali has been on death row since he was convicted in 2001 of murdering a religious scholar.

Babar says the committee was taking action because two Pakistani brothers were "wrongfully hanged" last year while their appeals were still pending.

Pakistan has hanged over 400 convicts since a moratorium on executions was lifted in 2014.