Pakistan hangs two death row prisoners

Lahore: Pakistan today hanged two prisoners convicted for murder, taking the total number of those executed following the lifting of the country’s self-imposed moratorium on the death penalty last year to over 100.

Zulfiqar was hanged in Faisalabad jail in Punjab province while Mohammad Musa was executed in Machh jail of Balochistan.

Zulfiqar was convicted for killing a man in 2000 while Musa was sentenced to death in 2007 for killing a man in provincial capital of Quetta. Musa’s appeals were rejected and the mercy plea was also turned down.

Pakistan on April 28 had hanged its 100th convict since the moratorium on death penalty was lifted in December last year in the wake of Taliban attack at a school in Peshawar in which 150 people, mostly school children, were killed

The country has more than 8,000 death-row prisoners and has persisted with executions despite criticism by the international rights groups.

PTI