Islamabad - Human Rights Watch said Tuesday that nearly one
in every four convicts in Pakistan is on death row, and urged the
government to ban the death penalty.
'Out of the more than 31,400 convicts in the country, nearly a
quarter - more than 7,000 individuals, including almost 40 women -
have been sentenced to death, and are either involved in lengthy
appeals processes or awaiting execution,' said the New York-based
group in a letter to Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousaf Rzaz Gilani.
Most of those sentenced to death were poor and illiterate and many
were held without due process of law and faced trials that did not
meet international fair trial standards.
'The number of persons sentenced to death and executed every year
in Pakistan is among the highest in the world,' said Brad Adams,
group's Asia director. In 2007, 309 prisoners were sentenced to death
and 134 were hanged.
According to Human Rights Watch, police torture to obtain
confessions was endemic in Pakistan and could lead to wrongful
convictions and the execution of innocent people.
It also alleged that capital punishment was used in some cases to
settle political scores.
'There are serious weaknesses in the legal system that lead to
unjust executions,' said Adams.
He urged the government to put a moratorium on death sentences and
executions until reforms are made to the legal system to ensure that
fair trial standards were met.
The rights advocate called upon Islamabad to inform the UN General
Assembly in September when it reopens its debate on the death penalty
that it had put an end to this punishment of 'an inherently cruel,
inhuman and final nature.'
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