Pakistan must stop executions: United Nations

Some 8,000 people are currently on death row in the country, said the OHCHR


Afp July 30, 2015
Some 8,000 people are currently on death row in the country, said the OHCHR. PHOTO: REUTERS

GENEVA: The United Nations on Wednesday urged Pakistan to reinstate its moratorium on the death penalty, condemning a recent surge in executions.

The plea came as the number of people executed in the country rose to 182 since a moratorium was lifted in December last year, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Pakistan lifted the ban on executions, which had been in place since 2008, in the aftermath of the December 16, 2014 deadly Taliban rampage at the Army Public School in Peshawar that killed over 150 students and staff.

Some 8,000 people are currently on death row in the country, said the OHCHR, whose statement came after two murder convicts were executed by hanging following a one-month break during the month of Ramazan that ended on July 17.

“I reiterate my previous call to Pakistan to continue the moratorium on actual executions and to put in place a legal moratorium on the death penalty, with a view to its abolition,” said the UN Special Rapporteur Christof Heyns.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 30th, 2015. 

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