PUBLIC AI Index: ASA 33/020/2007

26 October 2007

Further Information on UA 204/07 (ASA 33/017/2007, 07 August 2007) and follow-ups (ASA 33/018/2007, 9 August 2007; ASA 33/019/2007, 28 August 2007) – Imminent Execution

PAKISTAN Mohammad Ali (m), aged 45

Mohammad Ali is now due to be to be hanged at dawn on 30 October.

The president rejected his mercy petition, but twice postponed his execution by 15 days, to allow him to attempt to persuade the family of the man he was convicted of murdering to agree to spare his life in exchange for financial compensation. Mohammad Ali has been imprisoned for over 11 years. He is held in the District Jail, Jhang, in Western Punjab.

He was convicted of murdering a man called Fayyaz Ahmad in 1996. He was sentenced to death in May 2000 and his appeal was rejected by the High Court in 2004; his second and final appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

In 2006 at least 446 people were sentenced to death in Pakistan and at least 82, including a juvenile, were executed. Most had been found guilty of murder. Many well-off convicts are able to escape punishment under provisions of a law known as the Qisas and Diyat, which allows the legal heirs of murder victims to accept compensation for the killing and pardon the offender.

In 2006, the President, General Pervez Musharraf, for the first time used his powers under the Constitution to pardon Mirza Tahir Hussain after he had spent 18 years in jail.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases. The death penalty is a symptom of a culture of violence, and not a solution to it. It has not been shown to have any greater deterrent effect than other punishments, and carries the risk of irrevocable error. The death penalty is the ultimate form of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, and a violation of the right to life, as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English or your own language:

- calling on the President to use his powers under Article 45 of the Constitution to commute the death sentence handed down to Mohammad Ali (FIR number 241/96, Police Station Langrana, District Jhang);
- calling on the other authorities not to execute Mohammad Ali - calling for an immediate moratorium on all executions in the country, in line with the worldwide trends towards abolition of the death penalty.

APPEALS TO:

President Pervez Musharraf
Pakistan Secretariat, Islamabad, Pakistan
Fax: +92 51 9221422
E-mail: via website: http://www.presidentofpakistan.gov.pk/WTPresidentMessage.aspx
Salutation: Dear President Musharraf

Mr Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao
Minister for the Interior
Ministry for the Interior
Room 404, 4th Floor, Block R, Federal Secretariat
Islamabad, Pakistan
Fax: +92 51 9202624
E-mail: minister@interior.gov.pk
secretary@interior.gov
Salutation: Dear Minister


Mr Zahid Hamid
Minister of Law, Justice and Human Rights
Room 305, S-Block, Pakistan Secretariat
Islamabad, Pakistan
Fax: +92 51 9202628
E-Mail: minister@molaw.gov.pk
Salutation: Dear Minister

COPIES TO: diplomatic representatives of Pakistan accredited to your country.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 7 December 2007.