Pakistan hangs militant, 20th execution since moratorium lifted

Lahore, Jan 17: Pakistan on Saturday hanged a militant of a banned anti-Shiite outfit here after a court rejected a "compromise" and upheld the death penalty awarded to him, taking the number of executions in the country since the lifting of the moratorium on capital punishment to 20.

Ikramul Haq, alias Lahori, was hanged in Kot Lakhpat Jail here after the court rejected the compromise reached by his family with the kin of the person he murdered. Haq was linked to the Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) militant group and was involved in the murder of a Shiite man Nayyar Abbas in 2001 in Shorkot area of Jhang, Punjab Province.

An anti-terrorism court in Faisalabad had awarded the death sentence to him in 2004 and his death warrant was issued on January 6, 2014, after President Mamnoon Hussain turned down his mercy appeal. He was scheduled to be hanged on January 8 but the execution was delayed after a compromise with Abbas' family.

Later, it emerged that out of eight family members of Abbas, only two of his brothers and a sister had made the agreement to pardon him. The court rejected the compromise and upheld its decision of death sentence to the convict.

Strict security measures were in place in and around Kot Lakhpat Central Jail at the time of execution.

Pakistan resumed executions after lifting moratorium in the wake of attack at the Peshawar school massacre that left 150 people dead, mostly students, last month. So far, 20 prisoners have been executed. There are more than 8,000 death row prisoners in the country.

PTI