Four executed in two Punjab jails

Three condemned prisoners were executed in Gujrat district jail on Tuesday morning.

Three convicts, two brothers and their maternal uncle, were hanged to death over double-murder in year 2000.

They had committed murder of two brothers over personal enmity 15 years ago.

Another death row convict, Akram, was hanged to death in Kasur district jail for killing a man in 1998.

The hangings brought the tally of executions to more than 250 since the Pakistan ended a six-year moratorium on the death penalty in December, after Taliban militants gunned down more than 150 people, most of them children, at Army Public School in Peshawar.

Pakistan had initially reinstated hangings only for those convicted of terrorism, but in March this year they were extended to all capital offences.

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 in the country.