(dpa/NAN)
Pakistan is set to go ahead with the execution of Shafqat Hussain, who was believed to be a minor when convicted of involuntary manslaughter.
The move is in spite of appeals on Monday by human rights group, Amnesty International and others to reverse the decision.
Jail authorities in the southern port city of Karachi last week issued orders to hang Hussain early on Tuesday.
Amnesty International said in a statement that there were serious questions about the fairness of the investigation that led to Hussain being convicted in 2004.
“Pakistan must immediately halt the imminent execution of a man whose lawyers maintain was a juvenile at the time of his alleged crime and who claims to have been tortured into a ‘confession’,” it said.
Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, Reprieve and three other human rights organisations had already written to President Mamnoon Hussain urging him to grant clemency on Hussain.
According to the groups, Hussain was 14 when he was arrested in Karachi and charged with kidnapping and killing a boy who was half his age.
“His conviction was a clear violation of Pakistan’s juvenile laws, which do not permit executions for crimes committed before 18 years of age,” said Sarah Belal of Justice Project Pakistan.
In spite of the international outcry and local criticism, authorities have not given any indication they would stop the execution.
Pakistan brought back the death penalty after the Taliban attacked a school in Peshawar in December and killed around 150 people, mostly students.
So far, at least 144 people have been hanged since the end of the moratorium, according to the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
The Interior Ministry has said there are over 8,000 death row prisoners in the country.
