7000 prisoners awarded capital punishment in Pak : Amnesty international

London, May 29 (ANI): About 7000 prisoners have been awarded the death sentence in Pakistan, among which 36 were awarded the capital punishment last year alone, the international human rights organization, Amnesty International has said.

The international organization, its annual report for the year 2009, said that a total of 236 prisoners were awarded death sentences, but only 36 of them could be actually hanged to death, The News reports.

The report further stated that at least 1102 persons are missing from Balochistan, and the committee formed to recover those missing has only managed to gather information about 43 persons.

It may be noted that last year, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had advocated substituting the death penalty with life imprisonment.

President Asif Ali Zardari, however, issued an ordinance canceling Gilani's orders and recommending death sentence for cyber crimes too. (ANI)