Against execution: Activists denounce capital punishment

LAHORE: Seminars were held and rallies taken out on Monday in the city to mark World Day Against the Death Penalty.

“Death penalty is an extreme punishment and cannot be reversed after being executed,” Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) Secretary General I A Rehman told the media during a gathering of HRCP officials and rights activists of the commission and National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) outside Lahore Press Club.

Rehman said there the judicial and prosecution systems were faulty. “Under such circumstances there are chances of miscarriage of justice which can lead to execution of innocent people.”

HRCP’s Chaudhry Najamuddin said investigation methods of the police and chronic corruption also add to the troubles of those who are charged with capital offences.

He maintained capital punishment does not prevent offences and criminal activities from taking place. “Even though Pakistan has had one of the highest rates of conviction to capital punishment and now execution in the world, the offences that lead to death penalty have not declined.”

Najamuddin said religion is often invoked to justify capital punishment, yet no more than a couple of the 27 death penalty offences on the statute books in Pakistan are allowed by religion.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 11^th, 2016.