Justice Project Pakistan - Death Penalty Database

The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a judgment reviewing the meaning and scope of the term 'terrorism' as defined in the Anti Terrorism Act, 1997 and recommended that Parliament bring changes to the current understanding of the term, which is "too wide".

The 59-page judgment was authored by Chief Justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa.

At least 690 prisoners were executed in 20 countries in 2018, marking a 31 percent fall from at least 993 the previous year, according to Amnesty International that reported the fewest deaths by capital punishment in at least a decade.

A total of 2,531 death sentences were also imposed in 54 countries last year, decreasing from 2,591 recorded worldwide in 2017 according to a report published on Wednesday by the UK-based rights group that hailed the significant decline in global executions.

As in previous years, China, where figures believed to be in the thousands are classified as a state secret, remained the most prolific executor, Amnesty said, followed by Iran, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam and Iraq - accounting for 78 percent of total reported executions.

"It's very encouraging that known executions were the lowest at the end of 2018, but it is challenging to define clear reasons for the decreases and whether these reductions will be sustained in the coming years," Oluwatosin Popoola, Amnesty International adviser on the death penalty, told Al Jazeera.

KARACHI: A special anti-terrorism court awarded the death sentence on Thursday to two convicted of being involved in the murder of a man named Zainulabiddin. The court was hearing two cases against accused, Muhammad Jamil Ahmed and Munir Ahmed, pertaining to Zainulabiddin’s murder, police encounter and illegal weapons. The accused were convicted in both the cases.

The court awarded the death sentence to Jamil and Munir in the murder case, and 10 years imprisonment in the case pertaining to police encounter.

According to police, the convicts opened fire outside the house of Justice Zawar Hussain in Gulshan. Trader Zainulabiddin, who was a friend of Justice Hussain’s son, Sarfaraz, died in the firing incident.

The convicts were arrested after a police encounter and the cases against them were registered at Gulshan-e-Iqbal Police Station in 2011.

A Peshawar High Court bench on Monday ordered the provincial government to constitute a medical board for examining a prisoner who claimed to be suffering from a mental ailment and was unfit to stand trial in a murder case.

The single-member bench of Justice Mussarat Hilali ordered that the trial court should consider the case of the petitioner, Majid Khan, in the light of the report to be submitted by the medical board.

Saudi Arabia has already executed 134 people so far this year, six of whom were children when they were arrested, a new report has revealed.

The figures, given at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, come despite kingdom's pledge to reduce the use of the death penalty. In 2018, the country killed 149 people, with 46 left on death row by the end of the year. They include three children, political opponents, clerics, and human rights campaigners. Among those executed this year are three women and 51 who were facing drug charges that would be considered minor offences elsewhere in the world.

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Asif Saeed Khosa on Monday stayed the execution of a mentally ill prisoner, Ghulam Abbas, who was to be hanged on June 18.

The CJP gave the directions on an application filed by the Justice Project Pakistan, a human rights law firm, after the Punjab Home Department didn’t allow an independent psychiatrist and two government doctors to visit Adiala Jail and evaluate Abbas.

Imprisoned in 2004, Abbas was sentenced to death on May 31, 2006, by a district and sessions court for stabbing a neighbour.

He has spent more than 13 years on the death row and a new mercy petition has been filed requesting the president to grant him a reprieve.

HARIPUR: A death row convict was hanged in the Haripur Central Jail here on Wednesday morning.

Chanzeb, a resident of Peshawar, had been awaiting execution since 2006 when Federal Shariat Court had awarded him death penalty for raping and murdering a minor girl who happened to be his sister-in-law in 1996.

After issuance of his black warrants the jail administration arranged his last meeting with his family on Tuesday. According to jail sources, his execution was carried out at 4.30am amid tight security.

According to deceased’s last will, his real sister received his body and took it to Peshawar for burial.

A condemned prisoner was executed at Kot Lakhpat Jail here on Wednesday. Police said that Muhammad Ashraf had killed three women over matrimonial issue some eighteen years ago.

Masti Gate police had registered the case against the accused and submitted the challan to court.

He was sentenced to death in 2017.

LARKANA: Larkana Model Trial Court Judge Shyam Lal Ladhani on Monday awarded death sentence and life imprisonment to two brothers and also fined them after they were found guilty of killing two women and a man in the name of honour in 2010.

The case against Ashiq Soomro, Ghulam Akbar Soomro, Deedar Soomro, Aijaz, Riaz and Chanisar Soomro was registered at the Waris Dino Mashi police station on the complaint of Ali Hassan Kosh.

The complainant stated that the accused had murdered Mureed Kosh, Sughra Soomro and Safia Soomro in Wasayo Bhutto village on suspicion of extramarital affairs between the man and the two women.

During the trial in the model court, the allegation was proved against Ashiq Soomro and Ghulam Akbar Soomro. The other accused have been declared absconders.

In a travesty of justice, Saudi Arabia on Thursday executed a Pakistani woman. According to Justice Project Pakistan, Fatima Ijaz was the first Pakistani woman to be executed in that country since 2014. She had been incarcerated in the Dhaban prison of Jeddah, facing charges related to drug trafficking.