Justice Project Pakistan - Death Penalty Database

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.

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.

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.

The Saudi Arabia government has apologised from the immediate release of under-trial Pakistani prisoners involved in drug smuggling.

Foreign ministry officials said Pakistani inmates would complete their trial according to the Saudi law and their release was not possible until their cases were concluded.

Out of the release of 2,100 Pakistani prisoners as was agreed between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan earlier this year, only 563 could be released.