SUKKUR/SAHIWAL/BAHAWALPUR/LAHORE - Six more death row prisoners condemned for murder were hanged at different jails of the country here on Wednesday.
The executions started at Sukkur Central Jail where Abdul Razzaq Chohan and Jalil alias Jalal Morejo were hanged to death.
Jalil had killed his relative Haroon Morijo, over an old enmity in Padidan town of Naushahro Feroze district in 1997. He was awarded death sentence by the additional sessions judge in 2000. Second prisoner Abdul Razzaq was sentenced to death by the additional sessions judge in Sukkur, for slaughtering 7th grade student Aftab Mirani in Bachal Shah Miyani area in 2000.
An Okara-based convict was hanged in District Jail Sahiwal in the wee hours of Wednesday while the execution of another convict was delayed as the aggrieved family reportedly pardoned the murderer.
Shehbaz had murdered Asim Baig on property issue and was sentenced to death after trial. The district and sessions judge had issued his death warrant three days ago. The body was handed over to his legal heirs.
Jaffar who had murdered his friend’s brother and sister-in-law on some grievance was pardoned by the family.
Muhammad Khan was hanged to death in Mianwali Central Jail while another convict Khubdar Shah’s execution was delayed due to request that a ‘compromise agreement’ had been reached.
Death row convict Ayub was hanged in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail while a rapist-cum-murderer Ghulam Yaseen was executed in Bahawalpur Jail. Ayub was was sentenced to death by a court in Sheikhupura.
Death row inmate Ghulam Yaseen was hanged in New Central Jail in Bahawalpur. The convict who belonged to Chani Goth area was handed death penalty by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) for murdering a woman in 2002.
Pakistan restarted executions in December as part of a crackdown on militants and criminals after Taliban militants gunned down 154 people, majority of them schoolchildren, at APS Peshawar.
A moratorium had been in force since 2008. It was initially lifted only for those convicted of terrorism offences, but the move was extended to all capital offences this month.
The European Union, the United Nations and human rights campaigners have all urged Pakistan to reinstate the moratorium.
Human rights group Amnesty International estimates that Pakistan has more than 8,000 prisoners on death row, majority of them has exhausted the appeals process.