Pakistan executes five more – raising number of executions since Dec 2014 to 193

Three convicts Nadeem Shahzad, Samar Jan and Riaz were hanged to death in the wee hours of Friday morning.

An anti-terrorism court had awarded death sentence to Nadeem Shahzad and Samar Jan over kidnapping and murder of a boy in Naseerabad area of Lahore in 1998.

Another death row prisoner Riaz had committed double murder in 2005 in Shalimar area of Lahore.

In Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail two convicted prisoners Mohammad Ashraf and Zafar Iqbal were hanged to death. The condemned prisoners had shot dead two persons in year 2002.

The death sentence executed after rejection of appeals and mercy pleas by the higher courts and the President.

The jail administration arranged a meeting of the convicts with their relatives yesterday before the executions.

The dead bodies were handed over to the families after completion of formalities.

The number of executions in Pakistan has reached to 193 after post Ramazan executions.

Pakistan resumed executions as part of a counter-terrorism strategy after December 16 terrorist attack on Army Public School in Peshawar, in which around 150 people, most of them children, were killed.

The executions have been opposed by the United Nations and European Union (EU). Amnestry International and other rights groups campaigning against capital punishment, have criticized the government of Pakistan’s decision of resumption of executions.