APROPOS a report, `Can we punish mentally ill people?`, published in Dawn`s Friday edition, a spokesperson for the Justice Project Pakistan has clarified that Sarah Belal did not say the judiciary`s `misunderstanding of mental illnesses`.

The spokesperson said: `In fact, her mention of the Imdad All case was strictly restricted to a) the facts contained in Imdad`s jail medical record, and b) the reviews that had been filed by the IG prisons and the Prosecutor General.

Referring to the quotation `This is not an isolated incident. It is systemic injustice`, the spokesperson said: `Ms Belal very clearly stated that it was a systemic problem` and that she did not use the word `injustice`.

Referring to the quotation `This is a recurring cycle as a mentally ill prisoner`s first evaluation, mostly sloppy, is done inside the prison. Many such prisoners, mostly poor and vulnerable, remain undiagnosed,` the spokesperson said: `Ms Belal said, that in the past, mentally ill death row prisoners have been executed when a medical record for them existed as seen in the case of Muneer Hussein. She never stated that prison medical evaluations are `sloppy`.