ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: A total of 48 death row prisoners have been hanged to death across the country after nine more such convicts were executed in Punjab on Wednesday morning.
In Lahore, a convict identified as Tahir Shabir was executed at the Kot Lakhpat Central Jail because he had killed a person Irshad Ali in 2002 while another convict Asad Mehmood Khan was hanged to death in the Central Jail Attock for killing three people of a family in 2002.
Two death row prisoners including Zakir Hussain and Ghulam Muhammad were executed in the District Jail Jhang after being awarded death penalty by the district and sessions court Jhang.
Zakir Hussain had killed a custodian of a shrine named Zulfiqar in 1998 while Ghulam Muhammad had killed his brother-in-law in 2000 over a family dispute.
Likewise, two more condemned prisoners Saeed and Shafqat were executed in Central Jail Faisalabad after they were found guilty of killing two siblings Anwar and Arshad in 1998 due to an old rivalry.
In Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, convicts Muhammad Shabir and Shaukat Ali were hanged to death. A sessions court in Rawalpindi had sentenced them to death on charges of murders and attempt to murder.
Moreover, another convict Ahmed Nawaz was executed in the Mianwali Jail for killing a man Jawed Iqbal in 1998.
Earlier on Tuesday, as many as 12 death row prisoners were hanged to death across the country.
EU calls on Pakistan to stop executions
Later, the European Union condemned those executions and accused Pakistan of executing convicts not sentenced for terrorist charges.
“At least 39 people have been executed in Pakistan since December 2014, when the government lifted a moratorium on executions in place since 2008. This includes 12 convicts this morning,” the spokesperson for EU High Representative Federica Mogherini, Catherine Ray, said in a statement on Tuesday night.
It noted that “contrary to the Government of Pakistan’s stated policy that only clearly identified terrorists would be executed, convicts not sentenced on terrorist charges are now being executed.”
The EU called on Pakistan “to reinstitute the moratorium and to respect fully all its international obligations, in particular the principle of fair trial.
“The EU also recalls that Article 6(5) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Pakistan is a party, specifically prohibits the use of the death sentence for crimes committed by persons below eighteen years of age,” it added.
