Awaiting execution: LHC seeks details of death row convicts

Lawyer says court around 8,000 prisoners are on death row.

LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday directed the federal and Punjab governments to submit details about death-row convicts.

Justice Mahmood Maqbool Bajwa was hearing a petition filed by Judicial Activism Panel (JAP) chairman Muhammad Azhar Siddique.

A standing counsel told the court that implementation of death penalties had been resumed and the execution of the condemned prisoners was in progress. The judge directed the law officer to submit statistics of the prisoners whose execution had been pending and the reasons for the delay.

Advocate Siddique had said that around 8,000 prisoners were on death row. “The government suspended the the execution of death penalty in 2008. It is the right of every citizen to know how many prisoners there are in jails whose clemency appeals have been rejected by the president,” he said.

He also sought details about the number of foreigners who had been awarded capital punishment and were waiting execution. The judge adjourned the hearing till January 19.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2015.