Islamabad: A Pakistani court on Monday issued a fresh death sentence order for a convicted child killer whose execution has been postponed four times in the past.
The antiterrorism court has finally ordered that he be executed on August 4.
Shafqat Hussain was arrested and sentenced to death in 2004 for the kidnapping and murder of a seven-year-old boy. He appealed to an antiterrorism court stating that he was a minor at the time of the murder, Dawn online reported.
The first execution date announced was January 14, which was delayed to March 19 due to protests over his age. Civil society representatives protested the March 19 execution, forcing the execution date to be moved to May 6. It was again moved to June 9.
Jail authorities had approached the court through an application before Ramadan for the issuance of fresh warrant for Hussain’s execution.
A court official earlier said the application could not be taken up since a moratorium was imposed on executions during Ramadan, adding that the court was likely to issue a fresh warrant on Saturday.
Pakistan on Monday resumed executions by hanging two murder convicts following a one-month break during Ramadan, which ended last week.
The hangings, which took place in the central city of Multan early in the morning, brought to 176 the total number of people executed since December when the country ended a six-year moratorium on the death penalty, according to the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
“Two prisoners, Farooq alias Farooqa and Karim Nawaz, who had been awarded capital punishment, have been hanged in central jail in Multan today,” Chaudhry Arshad Saeed, a senior government adviser for prisons in the Punjab province said.
“Both of these convicts were awaiting the death penalty for murdering people in separate cases. They have been executed today after resumption of hangings following a temporary moratorium because of Ramadan,” he said.
Another senior official of the prisons department who is responsible for all operations confirmed the hangings.
Pakistan ended its 2008 — 2013 moratorium on the death penalty following a Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar that killed more than 150 people — mostly children — in the country’s deadliest ever terror attack.
The death penalty was initially reserved for terror convicts but was extended to all capital crimes in March.
Critics say the country’s criminal justice system is marred by police torture and poor legal representation, meaning many of those now facing the gallows have not had a fair trial.
Among those currently on death row are Hussain, whose case has drawn international criticism because his family and lawyers say he was under 18 at the time of the killing and claim he was tortured into confessing.
The European Union, the United Nations and human rights campaigners have all urged Pakistan to reinstate the moratorium.
Amnesty International estimates that Pakistan has more than 8,000 prisoners on death row, most of whom have exhausted their appeals.
