nil
Pakistan: Shafqat's execution stayed for 72 hours
Islamabad, Mar 19 (IBNS): Pakistan on Thursday postponed the execution of Shafqat Hussain, who was charged with committing a murder at the age of 14, for 72 hours.
His hanging was scheduled to take place on Thursday.
Conforming the move, Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon tweeted: "Thanks GOD . Just received letter regarding shafqat Hussain . It is postponed for 72 hours."
Conforming the move, Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon tweeted: "Thanks GOD . Just received letter regarding shafqat Hussain . It is postponed for 72 hours."
Human rights group Reprieve welcomed the order.
Maya Foa, Director of Reprieve’s death penalty team, said in the group's website: "This decision to stay the execution of a man tortured into ‘confessing’ to a crime when he was merely a child is hugely welcome. It is, however, a shame that it took an outcry and the weight of civil society to push the Minister into doing the right thing – just hours before Shafqat was due to be led to the gallows."
Foa said: "There are likely to be hundreds more Shafqats on Pakistan’s death row but the Interior Ministry has no idea at the moment who they are. Minister Nisar must at last conduct the full and proper inquiry into Shafqat’s case that was initially promised, and stay all other impending executions while he works out how many of those people may have been tortured into ‘confessing’ to crimes when they were children.”
The group said: "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. The Pakistani authorities tried to execute him in January 2015, but the hanging was called off following our campaign to save Shafqat’s life."
"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," it said.
Shafqat was sentenced to death on charges of kidnapping and killing a seven-year-old boy in Pakistan's Karachi city in 2004, reports said.
Top Headlines
-
News
'Modi finished BJP veterans' careers, will replace Yogi Adityanath too if...': Arvind Kejriwal
May 11, 2024
-
News
Vladimir Putin takes oath for his fifth term as Russia's President, vows to defend country
May 09, 2024
-
News
Pakistan desperate to make 'shehzada' the PM of India: Modi's veiled jibe at Rahul Gandhi in Gujarat poll rally
May 02, 2024
-
News
Key accused in Salman Khan house firing incident dies after attempting suicide
May 01, 2024
-
News
Columbia University protesters are now demanding free food and water from authorities, demonstration erupts in UCLA
May 01, 2024
-
News
'Life, liberty exceedingly important': Supreme Court questions ED on Kejriwal's arrest before elections
April 30, 2024
-
News
Man with sword kills 13-year-old in London, injures four others
April 30, 2024
-
News
Supreme Court to deliver verdict on pleas seeking complete count of VVPAT slips
April 24, 2024
-
News
WMO report shows Asia hit hardest by climate change and extreme weather
April 24, 2024
-
News
Delhi liquor policy case: Arvind Kejriwal administered insulin as blood sugar level increased
April 23, 2024