Pakistan hangs man convicted for multiple murders

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan today hanged a death row prisoner convicted for multiple murders, taking the total number of convicts executed to 212 since the country lifted its moratorium on the death penalty in March this year.

Maqbool Hussain was hanged early this morning in Multan central jail in Punjab province.

Hussain was convicted for murdering six people in 1996 to avenge the killing of his brothers and his petitions were already rejected by higher courts.

Pakistan lifted its moratorium on the death penalty in all capital cases on March 10.

Executions in Pakistan resumed in December last year, ending a six-year moratorium, after Taliban fighters gunned down 154 people, most of them children, at a school in Peshawar.

Hangings were initially reinstated only for those convicted of terrorism offences, but in March they were extended to all capital offences.

So far 212 convicts have been executed in total despite the criticism from United Nations, the European Union, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

More than 8,000 prisoners are on death row in Pakistan and about 160 convicts have been executed since the Nawaz Sharif government lifted moratorium on death penalty.