Pakistan executes 9 more death-row prisoners
19 March 2015 12:08 AM GMT
The nine were hanged in various jails across Punjab, including Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Jhang, Mianwali and Attock, officials said.
Pakistan on Tuesday executed 12 prisoners convicted under militancy and murder charges, the highest number of hangings in a single day.
The latest executions bring to 48 the number of convicts hanged since Pakistan resumed executions after a Taliban attack on an army school in Peshawar in December last year that killed 150 people, mostly children.
There are more than 8,000 death row prisoners in the country.
Initially executions were limited to terrorism offences but on March 10 the government decided to implement death penalty in all cases following the Peshawar school massacre in December.
The moratorium on executions had been in place since a democratic government took power from a military ruler in 2008.
Supporters of the execution argue that it is the only option to deal with the scourge of militancy but human rights group are highly critical of it.
Rights groups say many convictions are highly unreliable in Pakistan where criminal justice system barely functions and torture has often been used to extract confessions.
Pakistan on Tuesday executed 12 prisoners convicted under militancy and murder charges, the highest number of hangings in a single day.
The latest executions bring to 48 the number of convicts hanged since Pakistan resumed executions after a Taliban attack on an army school in Peshawar in December last year that killed 150 people, mostly children.
There are more than 8,000 death row prisoners in the country.
Initially executions were limited to terrorism offences but on March 10 the government decided to implement death penalty in all cases following the Peshawar school massacre in December.
The moratorium on executions had been in place since a democratic government took power from a military ruler in 2008.
Supporters of the execution argue that it is the only option to deal with the scourge of militancy but human rights group are highly critical of it.
Rights groups say many convictions are highly unreliable in Pakistan where criminal justice system barely functions and torture has often been used to extract confessions.
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