rawalpindi - Two murder convicts were sent to gallows yesterday. Later, the dead bodies were handed over to the heirs for burial. The convicts identified as Captain (Retd) Zafar Iqbal and Mirza Shafique Ahmed were supposed to be hanged in April but their executions were delayed after they filed applications in courts against their execution. In the case of Iqbal, he was supposed to be hanged on April 25 but his execution was delayed on the directions of the district and sessions court after he filed an application saying that his family had reached a compromise with the victim family. Iqbal was convicted for killing 11 persons of a family. The convict had gunned down six of his relatives at Arya Mohalla in Rawalpindi on January 10, 1994 and later on the same day he went to village Sangori in Gujar Khan and shot dead five more members of the family. He was convicted for the murders and given death penalty.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2008 dismissed review petition filed by Iqbal against his death penalty and his mercy petition was also rejected by the president.

In the second case, Mirza Shafique Ahmed was convicted for a murder committed in 1993. Ahmed was scheduled to be hanged on April 27 after his lawyer moved the Lahore High Court saying his client was juvenile at the time of the murder. The plea was rejected by the high court and later the Supreme Court also turned down his plea.