AI asks Pakistan to end death penalty

LONDON: Amnesty International has noted an alarming rise in death sentences as governments around the world resorted to capital punishment to combat crime and terrorism in 2014.
At the launch of a report on death penalties in 2014, the Amnesty said that various states used the death penalty in a flawed attempt to tackle crime, terrorism and internal instability. It said that the number of 2014 jumped by almost 500 compared to 2013, mainly because of sharp spikes in Egypt and Nigeria.
David Griffiths, Asia-Pacific Deputy Director at AI, told The News that Pakistan is bucking global trend. “We have seen reduction in death penalties in some parts of the world but Pakistan resumed it in the wake of horrific attacks on Army Public School (APS) children in Peshawar. The APS attack was a horrible attack for the whole nation and it traumatised everyone but the government gave a wrong response to it. There is no evidence to show that the death penalty is a deterrent to crime. Seven people were executed in 2-104 but by the end of March 64 people were executed. There is a dangerous escalation in the number of those being executed in Pakistan.”
Griffits said that Pakistani government has a choice. “There is no proof available that death penalty can curb crime and terrorism. It’s a misguided approach to bring back death penalty law as a response to horrific violence. Instead the government of Pakistan should concentrate on protecting civilians and must do everything to fix flaws in the legal system.
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan confirms that many of the 8200 people who are on death row have gone through unfair trials and didn’t have proper legal aid available to them, and torture is rife in Pakistan during detention. This raise further concerns.”
He called on Pakistan to end death penalties and use the normal legal route to try criminals and suspects. Chiara Sangiorgio, Amnesty International’s Death Penalty Expert, told The News that using capital punishment is a flawed attempt to tackle crime and terrorism. “As horrific as the Peshawar school attack was, nothing can justify the government’s resumption of executions in its aftermath. Authorities have already taken more than 60 lives since the moratorium on executions of civilians was lifted in December, and thousands more are at risk. There is simply no justification for the death penalty - not only is it a human rights violation, but any claims that it will work as crime stopping tool are false.“
“Pakistan had made real strides towards ending the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment until December last year. Instead, the country is now emerging as one of the world’s top executioner — a shameful club no country should aspire to join. We urge authorities to immediately re-impose a moratorium on the death penalty with a view to its full repeal,” it was added. Amnesty researchers said that China, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran and USA were the top five executioners of the world.