PAKISTAN: 9 DEATH ROW CONVICTS EXECUTED IN VARIOUS JAILS OF THE COUNTRY
May 28, 2015: Nine more death row prisoners were hanged in seven jails of Pakistan between May 27 and 28. Since the de facto ban on capital punishment ended on 17 December 2014, at least 140 people, including twenty-six convicted terrorists, have been executed across the country.
On May 27, a murder convict, Shamsul Islam alias Fakhrul Islam, was hanged at the Peshawar Central Prison. The prisoner, who was a cleric, had been charged with sexually molesting a boy and then killing him in the Mardan district.
He was tried by the Mardan district and sessions judge and sentenced to death in 2009. Subsequently, his appeals were dismissed by the Peshawar High Court and Supreme Court. His mercy petition was also turned down by the President.
Some family members said the former chief minister Ameer Haider Hoti held a jirga with the relatives of the deceased person Gul Faraz to pardon the convict, but in vain.
It was the second execution in the Peshawar prison since a moratorium on the death penalty was lifted in the country after the massacre at the Army Public School on 16 December 2014
On May 28, eight death row prisoners were hanged, including three men who hijacked an airplane in 1998.
Shahsawar Baloch and Sabir Baloch were hanged at the Central Jail in Hyderabad, while Shabbir Baloch was executed in Karachiâs Central Jail. The three men had hijacked Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight from Balochistan province's Turbat town on 25 May 1998. The hijackers demanded the pilot to enter India. They were arrested when the flight finally landed at Hyderabad Airport. An anti terrorist court awarded death sentence to them on 20 August 1998.
Another death row prisoner, Mahmood was hanged in Karachiâs Central Jail for killing a minor boy in 2003.
In Attock, death row convict Akseer was hanged in the district jail for killing Rizwan over a business dispute in 1998.
Muhammad Ashraf was hanged in Sahiwalâs Central Jail for a double murder. He had killed Aslam and Ahmad Ali in 2000.
Another murder convict, Amir Abdullah, was executed in the District Jail of Sargodha. He was found guilty of killing Wazir Khan after being sacked from work in 2002.
Malik Khurram was executed in Haripurâs Central Jail. He was sentenced to death in 1999 for killing his friend. (Sources: Dawn, 27/05/2015; IANS, Dunya News geo.tv, SamaaTV, thenews.com.pk, 28/05/2015)
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