Europe condemns Pakistan’s hanging penalties

The EU mission says Pakistan’s decision on restarting executions is not an effective tool against “terrorism”.

Pakistani officials plan to hang 500 convicts in the coming weeks [EPA]

The European Union Mission in Islamabad discouraged Pakistan’s decision to resume executions in the wake of the country’s bloodiest-ever terror attack.

The EU mission declared its disagreement on Wednesday and said in a statement it stood by Pakistan in its grief but remained opposed to capital punishment in all circumstances.

“We believe that the death penalty is not an effective tool in the fight against terrorism,” it said.

“The EU Delegation regrets the decision of the Government of Pakistan to lift the moratorium on executions … (and) We hope that the moratorium will be re-established at the earliest.”

Six prisoners have been hanged after Pakistan has announced last week that a six-year moratorium on the death penalty was being lifted on terror cases.

The decision rose amid public outrage over Taliban’s massacre at a school in the northwestern city of Peshawar which killed 150 people, including 134 children.

Pakistani officials plan to hang 500 convicts in the coming weeks, drawing protest from international human rights campaigners.

Regardless of the moratorium, which began in 2008, courts allowed the death sentence and Amnesty International estimates there are around 8,000 people on death row in Pakistan.

EU officials indicated last year that if Pakistan resumed executions, it could jeopardise a highly prized trade deal with the bloc.

Source: AFP