Zardari stays convict hanging

President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday stayed the hanging of a man convicted of killing a lawyer, putting off the first execution scheduled since an informal moratorium was put in place in Pakistan nearly four years ago. The stay order issued by the President was received by jail officials in the southern port city of Karachi this morning. The execution of Behram Khan was scheduled for 23 May.

DIG (Prisons) Nusrat Mangan said the stay order postponed Khan's hanging till 30 June. An anti-terrorism court gave the death sentence to Khan nearly a decade ago after he was found guilty of murdering lawyer Mohammad Ashraf within the Sindh High Court complex in April 2003.