Channel 4 [UK TV station] screened Lahore Law, a three-part...
Channel 4 [UK TV station] screened Lahore Law, a three-part documentary filmed in Pakistan's Civil and Criminal Courts
Channel 4 [UK TV station] screened Lahore Law, a three-part documentary filmed in Pakistan's Civil and Criminal Courts. These courts are overstretched and bureaucratic, with the justice rough and ready.
The Times reviewer, David Chater, wrote: "Watching a real murder trial take place in Pakistan makes strange and uncomfortable viewing. The legal system operates with a combination of chaos and due process, and the stakes are as high as they can get - last year [2001], 749 people were sentenced to death. The defendant is Babar Islam, a devout and uneducated man accused of murdering a holy man at the shrine of Amarsadhu. A spectacularly fat lawyer is paid £1,500 to prosecute the man, whereas the state-appointed defence lawyer - untrained in criminal law - gets £62.50. There is no jury, and everyone stands around the judge's table, with the proceedings recorded on ancient typewriter. "God willing," the accused tells his wife, 'the truth will be exposed'."
The Times reviewer, David Chater, wrote: "Watching a real murder trial take place in Pakistan makes strange and uncomfortable viewing. The legal system operates with a combination of chaos and due process, and the stakes are as high as they can get - last year [2001], 749 people were sentenced to death. The defendant is Babar Islam, a devout and uneducated man accused of murdering a holy man at the shrine of Amarsadhu. A spectacularly fat lawyer is paid £1,500 to prosecute the man, whereas the state-appointed defence lawyer - untrained in criminal law - gets £62.50. There is no jury, and everyone stands around the judge's table, with the proceedings recorded on ancient typewriter. "God willing," the accused tells his wife, 'the truth will be exposed'."
— SOURCES
- (Sources: http://isis.rte.ie/newtv/SearchResults.asp?criteria=Lahore%20Law, The Times, 15/02/2002)