Pak is 3rd highest capital punishment user country

Islamabad, Apr 27: Pakistan stands as the third-highest user of capital punishment in 2006 - behind only Iran and China - executing 82 prisoners, according to Amnesty International's annual report on the death penalty.

''The report, 'The death penalty worldwide: Developments in 2006', shows that at least 1,591 people were executed in 25 countries last year - the overwhelming majority in China (1,010), Iran (177), Pakistan (82), Iraq (65), Sudan (65) and the US (53),'' Daily Times said quoting from the report.

These six countries alone accounted for 91 per cent of all executions in 2006, according to an Amnesty International press release.

The 2006 death toll is less than that for the previous year (2,148), but there were sharp rises in execution numbers in Iran, Iraq, Sudan and Pakistan.

Iran's executions virtually doubled (from 94 to 177), Iraq's rose very sharply (from 3 to 65), as did Sudan's (from zero to 65), while Pakistan's nearly tripled (from 31 to 82).

Meanwhile, some 3,866 people were sentenced to death in 57 countries in 2006, and the world's overall ''death row population'' is now believed to comprise 24,000 prisoners, with over 7,000 awaiting execution in Pakistan alone - the largest number in any single country.

''The AI urgently need to see 'death penalty governments' issuing bans on all imminent executions, especially President Musharraf in Pakistan where a staggering 7,000 prisoners face execution,'' the report said.

Up until November last year, one of Pakistan's death row prisoners had been Mirza Tahir Hussain. Mr Hussain, 36, spent 18 years on death row. Following a high-profile campaign by his brother Amjad, Mr Hussain's death sentence was commuted and he was released in November.

UNI