[JURIST] Pakistani authorities hanged 12 men on Tuesday, the largest number of people executed in a single day following the preliminary removal of the country’s moratorium on executions in December. A spokesperson for the Interior Ministry stated [BBC report] the men were terrorists, murderers or guilty of heinous crimes. An Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] report claims that one of the men was a juvenile [AI report] when he was sentenced to death, in violation of international law. The individual was reportedly 16 years old when he was sentenced. Last week the Pakistani ministry of interior officially lifted the country’s six-year moratorium on the death penalty [JURIST report], permitting hangings for those prisoners who have exhausted all possible appeals.

The death penalty [JURIST news archive] has emerged as a controversial issue within Pakistan. The stay on capital punishment was partially lifted in December following a school attack [JURIST report] by the Taliban that resulted in the death of more than 150 individuals, mostly children. Since December Pakistan has put 39 people to death, and has ordered expedited executions of those prisoners remaining whose mercy petitions were rejected. Human rights advocacy groups such as Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] estimate that Pakistan’s death row contains more than 8,000 inmates [AI report], many of whom have already exhausted their mercy petitions. In February AI argued the use of the death penalty in Pakistan is undergoing a dangerous escalation [JURIST report] after two men were executed for non-terrorism offenses. In December the 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, stressing that no judiciary can be infallible.