LAHORE-
Activist of banned sectarian group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP); Ikramul Haq was executed Saturday morning at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Central Jail, for killing a man in Jhang in 2001.
Haq’s execution is the 19th hanging following the uplift of moratorium on capital punishment by the prime minister on December 17.
Haq was to be hanged on January 8 but the execution was delayed at the last minute following an agreement between the plaintiffs the defendant.
The agreement was presented before the magistrate who stayed the execution. The plaintiffs and the defendant were later ordered to confirm the agreement of pardoning Haq before an anti-terrorism court.
Out of eight family members of Nayyar Abbas; murdered by Haq, only three of his siblings appeared before the judge for confirmation. The court, hence, rejected the agreement and upheld the death sentence handed down to the accused.
Haq was awarded a death sentence back in 2004 by an anti-terrorism court for killing Abbas; guard of banned Sipah-e-Muhammad activist Altaf Shah, at an imambargah in Jhang in 2001.
Following the uplifting of the six-year moratorium on capital punishment hours after the December 16 Taliban attack at a school in Peshawar last year, Haq’s death warrant was issued by the court on January 6.
His appeal for mercy was also turned down by the President of Pakistan Mamnoon Hussain .