Islamabad: 17 condemned prisoners were sent to the gallows in various jails today morning, a day which marks the highest number of executions in the country, since the moratorium on death penalties was lifted.

Tight security arrangements were made in and around the jails, to avoid any untoward incident. Nizamuddin and Muhammad Yaseen were executed in Faisalabad Central and District Jail for murdering three people in the city, while Azam was hanged for being involved in the murder of seven other victims including his mother-in-law and father-in-law in 2004.

Three convicts were hanged in Central Jail Gunjranwala in several murder cases. Inayat was convicted of killing six members of his family in 2002, while Zafar and Latif were in the murder of four people. Allah Rakkah and Ghulam Nabi were sent to the gallows in Kot Lakhpat Jail, for committing a murder in 1996 and 2003 respectively.

Two death row prisoners were hanged in Sialkot jail for killing a woman after sexually assaulting her.

At least three murder convicts were executed in Mach, Multan and Gujrat central jails today. Riaz Ahmed and Sultan were issued black warrants for committing a murder in 2004 and 2000 respectively, while Azhar Mehmood was sentenced to death in 1995 for killing a person due to personal enmity.

The interior ministry had lifted its moratorium on the death penalty in all capital cases, on March 10, after restarting executions for terrorism offences in the wake of Peshawar school massacre.

Prisons Inspector General Mian Farooq Nazeer said 75 prisoners have been executed since the moratorium on executions was lifted on December 17, last year.