64 Death Row Prisoners Executed in Pakistan

64 Death Row Prisoners Executed in Pakistan at a Rate of one Every Two Days
By Michael Ireland, Senior Reporter, ASSIST News Service answritermike@gmail.com
PAKISTAN (ANS, April 3, 2015) -- An attack on an army-run school in Peshawar triggered the lifting of the Pakistani government's unofficial moratorium on the death penalty, according to a story by South Asia correspondent Stephanie March for www.abc.net.au
March writes that authorities in Pakistan have executed 64 death row prisoners at a rate of one every two days, since the government lifted its unofficial moratorium in December.
March reports that the Pakistani government lifted a six-year moratorium on the death penalty in December, in response to the murder of 132 children by the Taliban in an attack on a school in Peshawar.
She says that, initially the lifting of the moratorium only applied to convicted terrorists, but has since been expanded to include people accused of other crimes.
Christian mother of five Asia Bibi, 50, is one of 8,000 prisoners believed to be on death row in Pakistan, sentenced to death for allegedly insulting the prophet Mohammed.
Lawyer Naeem Shakir defended Ms Bibi in her original trial and said the evidence against her was weak.
"Asia has been put in solitary confinement and in that confinement, she is embarrassed, she is abused and she is totally frustrated and feels alienated from the whole world," Mr Shakir said.
"The complainant who was a religious clergy in charge of that local mosque, he was not a witness to the occurrence.
"He did not hear any word, anything uttered by Asia Bibi. So it was a case of hearsay."
March explains that globally, Amnesty International said it had seen a 22 per cent reduction in the number of executions in the last year. But deputy director for South Asia David Griffiths said Pakistan was bucking that trend.
"There is an additional concern in Pakistan because of the serious fair trial concerns and flaws in the judicial system," he said.
"Now we've seen evidence of torture, of lack of legal representation. Some of the prisoners have been convicted of non-terrorism related offences in anti-terror courts.
"What's going on in the judicial system behind this is highly problematic."
March further explained that studies have shown the majority of the country's citizens support capital punishment, but executive director of the Research Society of International Law in Islamabad Ali Sultan said it was because there had been "a collapse of the criminal justice system.”
"The normal court case here can drag on for years," Mr Sultan said, adding:"It ends up being a generational dispute. They don't expect justice from the normal court system, so people do want to see a more robust manifestation, if you will, of justice being meted out in Pakistan.
"That is something people really crave."
Photo: Asia Bibi awaits her final appeal on death row
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