Sectarian killing charges: LeJ men executed in Karachi, Multan jails

Saeed is the second prisoner to be executed in Karachi Central Jail after govt lifted moratorium on capital punishment

MULTAN/ KARACHI:

A militant of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) was hanged at the Karachi Central Jail on Thursday.

According to jail officials, Mohammad Saeed Awan was sent to the gallows at 6:30 in the morning.

Saeed is the second prisoner to be executed in Karachi Central Jail after the government lifted the moratorium on capital punishment. Executions in Karachi resumed on Tuesday after a seven-year gap, with the hanging of Behram Khan who had killed a lawyer in 2003 in the Sindh High Court.

The convicted man was charged with the murder of a retired police officer and his son in a sectarian attack.

He was sentenced by the Anti Terrorism Court for murdering retired DSP Syed Sabir Hussain Shah and his son Abid Hussain Shah in 2001 in the Malir locality of Karachi.

Security was heightened in and around the prison at the time of the execution, an official said.

Meanwhile, another activist of LeJ was executed in Multan Central Jail on Thursday morning for attacking a police picket and killing two officials and injuring several others in Multan in August 2000.

Zahid’s hangings pushed to 18 the number of executions carried out since Pakistan lifted a six-year moratorium on executions in December last year.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 16^th, 2015.