Two murder convicts hanged in Multan as Ramazan moratorium ends

Senior govt adviser says Farooq alias Farooqa and Karim Nawaz were hanged in Multan central jail

PUNJAB: Two murder convicts were hanged in Multan on Monday as executions resumed following a one-month break during the holy month of Ramazan that ended last week.

Murder convicts, Farooq and Karim Nawaz, were hanged amid strict security arrangements.

"Two prisoners, Farooq alias Farooqa and Karim Nawaz, who had been awarded capital punishment, have been hanged in central jail in Multan today," Chaudhry Arshad Saeed, a senior government adviser for prisons in the Punjab province told AFP.

Read: New date: Afghan citizen’s hanging set for July 29

"Both of these convicts were awaiting the death penalty for murdering people in separate cases. They have been executed today after resumption of hangings following a temporary moratorium because of Ramazan," he said.

Another senior official of the prisons department who is responsible for all operations confirmed the hangings.

The hangings brought to 176 the total number of people executed since December when the country ended a six-year moratorium on the death penalty, according to the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

In 1988, Farooq had murdered a person over a transaction whereas Kareem Nawaz had killed another in 1999 due to old enmity.

Read: After Ramazan break: Pakistan set to resume executions

Pakistan has resumed the execution of death row prisoners a little over a month after it suspended the practice out of respect for the month of Ramazan and after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif instructed authorities to respect “the sanctity of the holy month”, by observing a moratorium on capital punishment.