PAKISTAN: NINE MORE CONVICTS HANGED IN PUNJAB JAILS

March 18, 2015: nine more murder convicts were hanged in six prisons of Pakistan, a day after 12 convicts were sent to gallows, the largest number of people executed on the same day since an unofficial moratorium on capital punishment was lifted in December.
Ghulam Muhammad and Zakir Hussain were hanged in the District Jail of Jhang. Muhammad had killed his brother-in-law in 2000 over a family dispute. Hussain had killed a man, Zulfiqar, who was a custodian of a shrine in 1998. Both the offender and the victim were engaged in a dispute over the custodianship of the shrine.
Asad Mehmood Khan was executed in the Central Jail of Attock for killing three members of the same family in 2002.
Death row prisoner Tahir Shabir was hanged at the Kot Lakhpat Central Jail in Lahore for killing a man in 2002. He had shot a man, Irshad Ali, dead over a petty issue of placing a signboard at a shop.
Two more condemned prisoners – Shafaqat Ali and Muhammad Syed – were executed in the Central Jail of Faisalabad for killing two brothers – Arshed and Anwar – in 1998.
Prisoners Shaukat Ali and Muhammad Shabir were hanged in the Adiala Jail of Rawalpindi, after being convicted of murder and attempted murder.
Another death row prisoner, Ahmed Nawaz, was executed in the Mianwali Jail for killing a man, Jawed Iqbal Naami, in 1998.
All the hanged convicts had filed petitions in superior judiciary, seeking review of their sentence but the applications were dismissed. Their mercy appeals had also been turned down by President Mumnoon Hussain.
Meanwhile, hangings of three more convicts were halted after their heirs managed to produce agreements between the plaintiffs and defending parties, before the jail authorities. Their cases were referred to the respective trial courts. Qadeer Ahmed was scheduled to be executed in the Adiala Jail of Rawalpindi, while Azhar Mahmood and Muhammad Zaman were set to be hanged in Gujrat.
Since the de facto ban on capital punishment ended on 17 December 2014, 48 people, including twenty-two convicted terrorists, have been executed across the country. (Sources: dawn.com, 18/03/2015)