- Two death-row convicts of Sipah Sahaba executed in Multan Jail, Akram Lahori from same outfit to be hanged today
- Death-row inmate commits suicide in Sheikhupura Jail, another dies of heart attack in Vehari Jail
Two terrorists of a banned religious outfit, Ghulam Shabbir and Ahmed Ali alias Sheesh Nang, were hanged to death in Multan Jail amidst strict security Wednesday morning while another convict from the same outfit, Akram Lahori, will be hanged today. Separately, a prisoner died of a cardiac arrest at Vehari Jail while another committed suicide at Sheikhupura Jail.
The two prisoners were executed after President Mamnoon Hussain rejected their mercy plea. They were involved in the murder of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Nawaz Khan and four others and were sentenced to death by Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) of Multan. The Supreme Court of Pakistan had also upheld the penalty.
The families of both the terrorists held last meetings with them on Tuesday.
“The two terrorists, Ahmed Ali and Ghulam Shabbir, were executed early this morning. Both were involved in murder cases and both belonged to Sipah-e-Sahaba,” said Saeed Ullah Gondal, an official at the central jail in the city of Multan.
The latest executions have brought the number of those hanged until death to nine. The executions started when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif lifted the moratorium on capital punishment in the country in the aftermath of the Peshawar carnage that left some 150 people, most of them children, dead.
Ahmed Ali, a resident of Shorkot, Jhang district, was handed capital punishment for killing three men; Altaf Hussain, Mohammad Nasir and Mohammad Fiaz, and injuring Mohammad Pervez and Mohammad Siddique on Railway Road in 1998.
Ghulam Shabbir, a resident of Talamba area of Khanewal district, had killed DSP Khan and his driver Ghulam Murtaza on the Bohar Gate Road on August 4, 2000. Charges of sectarian violence were also proved against him.
He was sentenced to death by a special ATC on June 21, 2002, and the conviction was later upheld by the Supreme Court.
Earlier Wednesday, strict security measures were taken around the jail precincts and the adjoining areas. Army personnel were deployed outside the jail while elite force personnel were positioned inside the prison premises.
Meanwhile, a death-row prisoner, named Liaquat Ali, Narang Mandi resident, Wednesday committed suicide in Sheikhupura Jail.
Moreover in Vehari, a death-row jailbird died of a heart attack in district jail on Wednesday.
Mehtab Ahmed, who was arrested by Mailsi City Police Station in a murder case and was awarded death sentence, was imprisoned at District Jail.
Furthermore, Akram Lahori, a death row convict from Sipah Sahaba housed in Kot Lakhpat Jail, is scheduled to be executed today.
Lahori was found involved in the murders of Iranian Consul General in Lahore Sadiq Ganji, former interior minister Moinuddin Haider‘s brother and attack on naval cadets in Rawalpindi along with more than 30 terrorism cases.