This Article is From May 27, 2015

Pakistan Executes 11 Prisoners, Says Officials

Pakistan Executes 11 Prisoners, Says Officials

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Multan, Pakistan: Pakistan today hanged 11 prisoners, bringing the total number put to death since executions resumed last December to 128, officials said.

Ten executions took place in several cities in the central province of Punjab while one convict was hanged at Mach jail in the southwestern province of Baluchistan province.

All had been convicted of murder.

A moratorium on the death penalty had been in force in Pakistan since 2008, but executions resumed last December after Taliban militants gunned down 154 people, most of them children, at a school in the restive northwest.

The moratorium was initially lifted only for those convicted of terrorism offences, but in March was extended to cover all capital offences.

The European Union, the United Nations and human rights campaigners have all urged Pakistan to reinstate the moratorium.

Human rights group Amnesty International estimates that Pakistan has more than 8,000 prisoners on death row, most of whom have exhausted their appeals.
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