Pakistan: Shafqat Hussain’s hanging set for Thursday 19th March

Shafqat Hussain

URGENT – without warning the Pakistani authorities have re-scheduled Shafqat Hussain’s hanging for next Thursday. They broke their promise to investigate the many miscarriages of justice in his case, and now Shafqat’s life is in imminent danger once again.

Shafqat was a 14-year-old boy when he was illegally sentenced to death. He was brutally tortured and made a false confession to make the abuse stop. They tried to execute him in January, but thousands of us took action together and succeeded in stopping it.

Shafqat needs our help now more than ever. We know that our opposition can have a huge impact, but we need to act quickly.

We’re working with Shafqat’s lawyers at the Justice Project Pakistan (JPP) to take legal action, but if we are to save his life, we all need to add our voice of opposition. In January the odds were against us, but 7,000 people from around the world joined our campaign and we succeeded in stopping the execution.

But the Minister broke his promise to investigate the miscarriage of justice in Shafqat’s case, and he has once again been slated for hanging.

The Pakistani authorities seem to believe that what has happened in Shafqat’s case is good enough. That we should ignore the fact that Shafqat was a child when sentenced to death, and that he only confessed to make the torture stop. That there’s no need to investigate what happened, and we should all stop complaining.

I think anyone who cares for justice will differ.

Shafqat was wrongfully convicted of murder and kidnap in 2004. The only evidence against him was a forced confession made after nine days of severe torture.

He was blindfolded, kept in solitary confinement, beaten, electrocuted and burned with cigarette butts. He was just 14 years of age at the time.

TAKE ACTION: Chaudhry Nisar has the power to stop this execution, and we have to make sure he acts now. Can you send a message to demand that he issue orders to stay Shafqat’s execution? The more people who voice their opposition, the more likely he is to take action.

Source: Reprieve, March 14, 2015

Pakistan: 2 death row inmates hanged in Faisalabad jail

March 13, 2015: Prison authorities in Faisalabad hanged two death row prisoners convicted of murder and rape, bringing to 27 the number of executions in Pakistan since it resumed capital punishment in December.

Sources told Geo News that the two convicts – Sajid alias 'Taru' and Mohammad Akhtar alias 'Haseena' – were hanged to death early Friday (March 13), morning at the Faisalabad Central Jail.

Sajid was sentenced to death for murder, while Akhtar was convicted of committing murder and rape.

Source: geo.tv, March 13, 2015

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