[JURIST] Shafqat Hussain, a man convicted of kidnapping and killing a seven-year-old child in 2004, was hanged on Tuesday in Karachi, Pakistan. This case has attracted ongoing international attention, as his execution [Daily Times report] was postponed four times for legal challenges and further investigation. Hussain’s lawyers and family have asserted that he was a minor at the time of the murder and tortured for his confession while in custody. UN experts previously urged [JURIST report] Pakistan to definitively halt Hussain’s execution, as well as all executions of minors on death row. David Griffiths, the South Asia Research Director for Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] called for an imposition of a death penalty moratorium and stated [press release], “This is another deeply sad day for Pakistan. A man whose age remains disputed and whose conviction was built around torture has now paid with his life – and for a crime for which the death penalty cannot be imposed under international law.”

Pakistan’s use of the death penalty since December has received a lot criticism throughout the world. When the six-year death penalty moratorium was lifted [JURIST report] last December, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif [official profile] said the death penalty would only be applied to terrorism-related cases. However, in March the Pakistan Ministry of Interior lifted the country’s moratorium on the death penalty, permitting hangings for all prisoners [JURIST report] who have exhausted all possible appeals. AI called on Pakistan in January to end the increase in executions following the Peshwar school attack, and in February the rights group said that use of the death penalty in Pakistan is undergoing a “disturbing and dangerous” [JURIST reports] escalation after the execution of two men convicted of non-terrorism offenses. Also in March a judge in Pakistan’s Lahore District and Sessions Court [official website] sentenced [JURIST report] an offender to death for blasphemy. Additionally in March, Pakistani authorities hanged 12 men [JURIST report] on Tuesday, the largest number of people executed in a single day since the moratorium was lifted.