Two convicts were hanged in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail while the third was executed at Faisalabad Central Jail. According to details, Aftab Bahadur Masih was hanged in Lahore’s jail over the murder of a woman and her two children in 1992.
The UK-based rights group Reprieve said that Aftab Bahadur Masih was 15 when he was sentenced to death in 1992 at a time when a 15 year old could be given the death penalty. It said that in 2000 this was raised to 18 years but that Masih did not benefit from it.
Reprieve also claimed that two witnesses who implicated Masih had since recanted, saying they were tortured.
The group made a series of tweets on the execution of Aftab Bahadur Masih and these can be seen below
V sad news: Aftab Bahadur – sentenced to death aged 15 after torture – executed this morning, 0430 Pakistan time (0030 UK time).
— Reprieve (@Reprieve) June 10, 2015
Aftab Bahadur: To the last, Pakistan refused to grant lawyers the few days needed to present evidence which wld have proved his innocence. — Reprieve (@Reprieve) June 10, 2015
“A truly shameful day”: Pakistan executes Aftab Bahadur, wrongly convicted via police torture at just 15 yrs old https://t.co/rozRSgZtoI
— Reprieve (@Reprieve) June 10, 2015
Aftab,hanged today in Pakistan:”I have no family to visit me, so when someone does come, it is a wonderful experience”https://t.co/mYtPdD0VgG — Reprieve (@Reprieve) June 10, 2015
Aftab, hanged today in Pakistan: “I have no source of money, so I can only rely on God and on my volunteer lawyers.” https://t.co/mYtPdD0VgG
— Reprieve (@Reprieve) June 10, 2015
Police asked Aftab for a 50k rupee bribe; said wd let him go if he paid. As a plumber’s apprentice, he could not pay. https://t.co/rozRSgZtoI
— Reprieve (@Reprieve) June 10, 2015
The full text of Reprieve’s statement can be read here
“Before the hanging, he was crying and saying he was innocent.”
REUTERS ADDS: In an essay written from jail and published a day before his hanging, Bahadur, a Christian, repeated his assertion that he was innocent.
“But I do not know whether that will make any difference,” he wrote. “I have not given up hope, though the night is very dark … It would perhaps have been better not to have to think of what the police did to try to get me to confess falsely to this crime.”
Another convicted murderer named Tariq was sent to the gallows in Kot Lakhpat jail over the murder of one person.
Hashmat Ali was executed in Faisalabad jail over the murder of six persons.
Total executions rise to 153, since attack on school in December
These three executions raises to 153 the number of executions that have taken place in Pakistan since the attack on Army Public School in Peshawar, following which the government reversed a long-standing moratorium on executions.
Because of this, the Pakistan government has come under severe criticism from the European Union and several international rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch as well as the Pakistan-bases rights group the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
