Death penalty implementation may begin in one week

ISLAMABAD: Implementation of death penalty cases is expected to begin in one week as the Interior Ministry continues the process of wrapping up mercy appeals of convicts.

The Interior Ministry on Thursday sent 120 mercy appeals of death row inmates to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who will forward them to President Mamnoon Hussain for a final decision.

The summaries will be sent back to the Interior Ministry following the president’s decision to accept or dismiss them. The dismissed appeals will then be sent to home departments of the concerned province. The home departments will seek the death warrants of prisoners from the concerned sessions court judge. Interior Ministry sources say that it may take up to one week for the sentences to be carried out.

Earlier, the mercy appeals of 17 inmates were dismissed. According to government sources, ten of the inmates on death row are from Punjab, six from Sindh and one from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Pakistan ended its moratorium on the death penalty in terror-related cases on Wednesday. The decision to lift the ban was made following the carnage at the Army Public School in Peshawar.