PUBLIC AI Index: ASA 33/017/2007

07 August 2007

UA 204/07 Imminent Execution

PAKISTAN Mohammad Ali (m), aged 45

Mohammad Ali is due to be to be executed by hanging at dawn on 9 August 2007 in the District Jail, Jang City, in Western Punjab. He was convicted of murdering a man called Fayaz in 1996. He was sentenced to death in 1998 and his appeal was rejected by the High Court; his second and final appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court in 2006.

The president rejected his mercy petition, but did postpone his execution for 15 days, to allow him to attempt to agree financial compensation, as provided for in law, to the family of Fayaz in exchange for sparing his life.

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 Ordinance, which allows relatives of murder victims to accept compensation for the killing and pardon the offender.

On 24 July 2007 five people, including three brothers, were hanged for murder in the central jail in Sahiwal. Zulfikar Ahmed, Falak-Sher and Muhammed Zafar were convicted of killing five members of a family following a land dispute in April 1993. A fourth man, Abdul Hafeez, was hanged for killing his neighbour follwing a minor dispute. Another man was hanged for killing his two brothers’ wives and their daughters for not giving him money to buy drugs.

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 (case number 241/96);

- calling on the authorities not to execute Mohammad Ali (case number 241/96);

- calling for an immediate moratorium on all executions in the country, in line with the worldwide trends to abolish the death penalty with a view to an eventual abolition of the death penalty.

APPEALS TO:

President Pervez Musharaff

Pakistan Secretariat, Islamabad, Pakistan

Fax: +92 51 9221422

E-mail: via website: http://www.presidentofpakistan.gov.pk/WTPresidentMessage.aspx

Salutation: Dear President Musharaff

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 Muhammad Wasi Zafar

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 18 September 2007.

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