Pak to execute mentally ill murder convict

Pakistani authorities issued a death warrant for a mentally ill condemned prisoner on Wednesday after the country's Supreme Court ruled that his schizophrenia is "not a permanent mental disorder".

Lawyers and rights groups say convicted murderer Imdad Ali, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia while in prison in 2012, cannot be executed as he cannot understand his crime and punishment.

Ali's death warrant was issued by a criminal court on the request of the provincial Punjab government, said a statement by The Justice Project Pakistan (JPP), which is providing Ali with counsel.

It follows a ruling last week by Pakistan's top court that said schizophrenia was a "recoverable disease" that could be treated by drugs, and not a mental disorder.

He will now be executed on November 2 in a prison in the city of Vehari, the JPP said. Ali, aged 50, was sentenced to death for the murder of a religious cleric in 2002.

He had been sentenced to hang last month, but received a last minute stay of execution by the Supreme Court, before that expired last week. Rights groups have slammed the ruling.