The death sentence was imposed by a district and sessions court in Multan on 21 December 2019. China remained the world’s leading executioner – but the true extent of the use of the death penalty in China is unkn… Pakistan. Previously, the death penalty was banned in Pakistan and criminals were very confident that they can come out of jails after some time and again get involved in similar activities on a much larger scale. Special court hands death penalty to Pervez Musharraf | 17 Dec 2019 | Neo News | Perwez Musharaf Neo News with a slogan Pakistanio Ki Awaaz is … That’s the year when Pakistan lifted a moratorium on capital punishment following the massacre of mostly children at a school in Peshawar. Last updated on December 11, 2019. Many countries in Africa are now abolitionist de facto, meaning that they have not carried out an execution in over 10 years. Mr. Hafeez's case has gone through lengthy trials in Multan, with the prosecution failing to provide convincing evidence of his guilt, they pointed out, while also noting that “some documentary evidence submitted to the court was never subjected to independent forensic review despite allegations it had been fabricated, and that a lawyer representing Mr. Hafeez in 2014, Rashid Rehman, was murdered and the killers have not been brought to justice”. For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service, Pak National Assembly Speaker tests COVID-19 positive, Want the ‘Perfect Hot Water’ for daily needs? Mr. Hafeez was arrested on 13 March 2013 and charged for allegedly making blasphemous remarks during lectures and on his Facebook account. Botswana was the only country in Southern Africa to carry out an execution in 2019, defying the regional trend towards abolition of the death penalty. Pakistan: 2019: 6+ n/a Hanging. Even though a moratorium on capital punishement had been in place since 2003, courts in the Central Asian country had continued to … UN experts condemn death sentence handed down by court in #Pakistan to university lecturer Junaid Hafeez, who had been charged with #blasphemy.Learn more: https://t.co/WvjsnOQOEm, Moreover, they raised concerns in an urgent appeal to the Government over the legal merits of the case. In comparison with past practice, an international rights group found thatEgypti… 3. en es fr. The death sentence was imposed by a district and sessions court in Multan on 21 December 2019. And since 2014, criminal and military courts have issued more than 2,500 initial death sentences, hundreds of them in cases of alleged political violence, which are usually marred with severe due process violations. Botswana was the only country in Southern Africa to carry out an execution in 2019, defying the regional trend towards abolition of the death penalty. Some 27 crimes carry the death sentence in Pakistan, including terrorism, rape and adultery. Additional amendments were unavoidable. The Pakistan Penal Code contains 27 different offenses punishable by death, including blasphemy, rape, sexual intercourse outside of marriage, assault on the modesty of women, and smuggling of drugs. With support from HURIDOCS, Justice Project Pakistan launched their Death Penalty Database on 29 June 2019. JPP found that Punjab has executed more people than other provinces. Death penalty for murder, aggravated murder, drug smuggling, terrorism, arms trafficking, armed robbery resulting in death, certain military offenses (e.g. Carrying out the sentence would amount to an arbitrary killing – UN experts. He has been in solitary confinement since his trial began in 2014, seriously affecting his mental and physical health. Pakistan arrests key militant of a group behind Mumbai attacks . The following is an excerpt from Justice Project Pakistan’s (JPP) book, The Death Penalty in Pakistan: A Critical Review, to be launched on July 11, 2019 in Islamabad. "Prolonged solitary confinement may well amount to torture, or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment," the experts said. Yet, "death penalty was awarded in at least 584 cases in 2019, while 15 people were executed, 12 of them in Punjab. The universal fight for the abolition of the death penalty seems to be on the right way. 18 November 2020 South Asia: Authorities must urgently protect sanitation workers risking their lives on the COVID-19 frontlines Most executions took place in China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Egypt – in that order. Pakistan is one of 56 countries worldwide who retain the use of the death penalty in law and practice. “We urge Pakistan's superior courts to promptly hear his appeal, overturn the death sentence and acquit him.". Implementation of … Earlier this year, IndiaSpend found that there was a 53 percent rise in death penalty sentences in India, from 121 in 2017 to 186 in 2018. International law permits the death penalty only in exceptional circumstances, and requires incontrovertible evidence of intentional murder, the experts noted. HRCP estimates that from January 2004 to August 2019, 5,084 death sentences were imposed across the entire court system. Despite a rise in executions in some countries, global executions fell by 31% in 2018. A police officer stands guard at the entrance of the Central Jail in Multan, Pakistan December 21, 2019. (file), Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Iran: ‘Secret execution’ of champion wrestler ‘deeply disturbing’ – UN rights experts, US pardons Blackwater guards: An ‘affront to justice’ – UN experts, Iraq urged to investigate attacks on women human rights defenders, International Court of Justice orders Pakistan to review death penalty for Indian accused of spying. Death penalty in 2019: Facts and figures Article by Amnesty International published on April 22nd, 2020. The death penalty was also approved for terrorists. In a ruling delivered on Wednesday, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Pakistan to review a death sentence handed down in the case of a former Indian Navy officer accused by Pakistan of spying, finding that the country’s authorities acted in breach of the Vienna Convention, which lays out rules for diplomatic relations between countries. 13 December 2020 Pakistan: Prisoners of the Pandemic: The right to health and COVID19 in Pakistan’s detention facilities Research Pakistan. Report. "There seems to be a climate of fear among members of the judiciary handling this case, which may explain why at least seven judges were transferred during this lengthy trial", the UN experts concluded. Kazakhstan abolishes death penalty . Death penalty 2018: Dramatic fall in global executions Article by Amnesty International published on April 10th, 2019. ISLAMABAD, Dec 21 ― A Pakistani anti-terrorism court on Saturday sentenced a liberal scholar and former university lecturer to death on blasphemy charges. Pakistan carried out 14 executions, Singapore carried out 2, and Bangladesh carried out 1. "The death sentence imposed on Mr. Hafeez has no basis in either law or evidence, and therefore contravenes international law”, they continued, adding that “carrying out the sentence would amount to an arbitrary killing," they said. Insulting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad carries a mandatory death penalty in Pakistan, which is about 95 per cent Muslim. Kazakhstan has abolished the death penalty, making permanent a nearly two-decade freeze on capital punishment in the Central Asian country, a statement on … 4. Independent UN human rights experts condemned on Friday the death sentence of a university lecturer charged with blasphemy in Pakistan, calling the ruling "a travesty of justice". ― Reuters pic . The recommendations related to the blasphemy law included urging the Pakistani government to take the following actions: The use of the death penalty as a political weapon was on display in late December 2019 in an extraordinary series of four unrelated cases in Pakistan and the Middle East. This Code draws its origin from the Indian Penal Code, after several amendments from different governments in Pakistan, the Code is now a mixture of Islamic and English law. 08/10/2019. They expressed their serious concern that blasphemy charges are still being brought against people “legitimately exercising their rights to freedom of thought, conscience, religion and expression". In its 2019 Annual Report, USCIRF provided a number of recommendations for improving the situation of Pakistan’s religious minorities. From 1967 to 2014, over 1,300 people have been accused of blasphemy, with Muslims constituting most of those accused. There were no messages by state functionaries nor calls made by political parties to reform the criminal justice system and end the near arbitrariness in the application of death penalty which, as a leading human rights activist Reema … Amnesty International recorded 657 executions in 20 countries in 2019, a decrease of 5% compared to 2018 (at least 690). Thirty-three-year-old Junaid Hafeez, a lecturer at Bahauddin Zakariya University in Multan, was sentenced to death – despite last year’s landmark Supreme Court ruling in which Pakistani Christian Asia Bibi was tried and condemned to hang for blasphemy but was later acquitted. In the last 14 years, Pakistan has sentenced 4,500 people to death and executed around 821 people. Saturday, 21 Dec 2019 06:00 PM MYT. A cross the globe, October 10 was observed as World Day Against Death Penalty. Pakistan awarded death penalty to 584 people, 17 for blasphemy in 2019, NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD: Last year, Pakistan awarded death penalty to at least 584 people, out of which 17 were convicted for ", Copyright © 2021 Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All rights reserved. Twenty-two prisoners were executed in the United States in 2019. Pakistan’s Pervez Musharraf handed death penalty in treason case. The year 2019 is very crucial for Pakistan and Prime Minister Imran Khan, both on domestic and international fronts. In Pakistan, it was business as usual and the day came and passed unnoticed. A large … Gunmen kill Hazara coal miners in southwest Pakistan . Powered by our web-based platform Uwazi, it brings together details about current death row prisoners and the 513 prisoners who have been executed since 2014. Death Penalty. Date Number Since 1976 State Name Age Race Victim Race Method Drug Protocol Years From Sentence To Execution; 1/30/19: 1491: TX: Robert Jennings: 61: Black: 1 Black male: Lethal Injection: 1-drug (Pentobarbital) 29: 2/7/19: 1492: AL: … Amnesty International published its annual report on death sentences and executions worldwide on 21 April 2020. As of December 2019, at least 17 people convicted of blasphemy were still on death row," the Human Rights Commission said in its report. Slow access to justice has made it impossible to eradicate terrorism. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work. No additional countries banned the death penalty in 2019 for the second year in a row, but Amnesty says that 142 countries have either abolished the death penalty in law or in practice. Beijing warns of retaliation as NYSE begins delisting Chinese telecom firms . This Code provides explanations, definition, and punishment for all type of offenses. Story continues below advertisement . Pakistan carried out 14 executions, Singapore carried out 2, and Bangladesh carried out 1. The independent experts are the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief; Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; and members of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. 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"The Supreme Court ruling in the Asia Bibi case should have set a precedent for lower courts to dismiss any blasphemy case that has not been proved beyond reasonable doubt," the experts said. This is the lowest number of executions that Amnesty International has recorded in at least a decade. The Pakistan Penal Code, the main criminal code of Pakistan, punishes blasphemy (Urdu: قانون توہین رسالت ‎) against any recognized religion, providing penalties ranging from a fine to death. Pakistan; In a new report issued today, FIDH and its member organization, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), detail the systemic bias faced by the poor and marginalized with regards to the death penalty in Pakistan. ♦ Receive daily updates directly in your inbox -, Only in exceptional circumstances and with incontrovertible evidence of intentional murder does international law permit the death penalty. Fast News. P akistan’s politics often starts a morning with bad news, but that was not the case on 17 December 2019. In Pakistan , a special tribunal tried and convicted the nation’s former leader, General Pervez Musharraf (pictured), of high treason and sentenced him to death. 5. Musharraf, who is in self-imposed exile in Dubai, has been on trial for imposing a state of emergency in 2007. This includes about 1,800 death sentences and 520 executions from December 2014 to August 2019. Special Rapporteurs and independent experts are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a specific human rights theme or a country situation. Punjab executes more people . "In the light of this ruling, the guilty verdict against Mr. Hafeez is a travesty of justice, and we condemn the death sentence imposed on him”, spelled out the independent experts. Since 2014, when Sisi became president, Egypt has been among the 10 countries with the highest numbers of annual executions, joining other notorious executors of the death penalty like China, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Seven states carried out executions. Responding to the adoption of a resolution in Pakistan’s lower house of Parliament calling for public hangings of people convicted of the sexual abuse and murder of children, Amnesty International’s Deputy South Asia Director, Omar Waraich, said: “The sexual abuse and murder of children are among the most horrific crimes, but the death penalty is not a solution. Many countries in Africa are now abolitionist de facto, meaning that they have not carried out an execution in over 10 years. On capital punishment following the massacre of mostly children at a school in Peshawar least )! The lowest number of recommendations for improving the situation of Pakistan ’ s detention Research. 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