Murder convicts hanged in Mirpur, AJK

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MUZAFFARABAD-
Two murder convicts on death row were executed Friday in Central Jail in Mirupur, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

Convicts Muhammad Riaz and Muhammad Fayyaz were sentenced to death for the murder of the 22-year-old son of Fazal Rabbani; AJK’s former advocate general, in a 2004 robbery.

They were handed down a death penalty by the Azad Kashmir Shariah Court in 2005.

Their appeals for mercy were rejected by AJK’s then president Raja Zulqarnain Khan in 2010.

Their appeals against the punishment were also turned down the AJK’s Supreme Court in 2006 and 2011.

Their death warrants were issued in 2012 but the AJK President Sardar Yaqoob Khan gave them a 10-day reprieve to attempt to strike a deal with the victim’s family.

For the second time, their death warrants were issued in 2013 but the executions could not be carried out due to the moratorium on death penalty.

They were finally executed today as Pakistan lifted the six-year moratorium on death penalty in 2014 following the Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar in which around 150 people were killed. The victims mostly included school children.

Including today’s executions, 22 convicts have been executed across the country. All of them were convicted under anti-terrorism laws.

Security was beefed up in and around the Mirpur central prison. The convicts held a meeting with their relative prior to the hangings.

The bodies have now been handed to the heirs.