[JURIST] The Lahore High Court (LHC) [official website] on Monday acquitted four death row convicts who were sentenced for their involvement in a 2002 Rawalpindi suicide attack that killed 19 people. After being sentenced by an Anti-Terrorism Court in 2004, the convicts filed an intro-court appeal. Counsel argued that there was no solid evidence showing that the men were responsible for or linked to the attack. The LHC acquitted them due to lack of evidence.

The death penalty [JURIST news archive] is a controversial issue worldwide. In December Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif approved the lifting of Pakistan’s moratorium on the death penalty in response to the Peshwar massacre [JURIST report]. Later in December UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein expressed deep regret [JURIST report] at the lifting of the moratorium on the death penalty in Pakistan and Jordan. In October the UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights urged the international abolition of the death penalty [JURIST report].