Shafqat Hussain was executed at the Karachi Central Jail at 4:30 a.m. on Tuesday, according to Pakistani official Iqbal Hassan. This was despite the fact his lawyers expressed concern that he was tortured into confessing to the crime of murdering a 7-year-old when it is claimed Shafqat was 14-years-old. Calls came from rights groups from both within Pakistan and internationally to stay Shafqat Hussain’s execution, which had been delayed four times previously, but Pakistani authorities pushed forth and went ahead with the execution anyway after.
The Independent reports that legal aid group Justice Project Pakistan stated, “Shafqat Hussain was this morning executed in Pakistan, despite widespread calls, both within and outside the country, for a stay.”
Pakistan does not allow for the execution of minors. However, authorities claim that Shafqat Hussain was 23-years-old at the time of the crime and, therefore, was eligible for the death penalty. His lawyers insist that he was 14-years-old. Furthermore, Hussain confessed under extreme conditions, where his fingernails were pulled out, he was marked with cigarette burns, and beaten with a heated rod.
Shafqat Hussain’s case gained notoriety and has become a lightning rod for illustrating how flawed the judicial system is in Pakistan. Washington-based National Endowment for Democracy fellow Raza Rumi expressed his concerns , as reported by the New York Times .
“The trial of Shafqat Hussain sums up the structural flaws in our criminal justice system, where police torture and confessions under duress are the norm … Here is a case where a poor family was unable to pursue a criminal case that requires resources and access to influential people within the state.”
Shafqat Hussain’s case is particularly concerning because since a moratorium on the death penalty was lifted in December of last year after a brutal school massacre that left 132 children dead, the Guardian reports that over 190 people have been hung according to Amnesty International. The European Union has expressed great concern about this zest for execution. Maya Foa of international rights group Reprieve condemned the hanging, as reported in the New York Times .
“Shafqat’s execution speaks to all that is wrong with Pakistan’s race to the gallows … The government’s decision to push ahead with the execution despite calls to halt it from across Pakistan and around the world seems to have been more a show of political power than anything to do with justice.”
Relatives were allowed to visit Shafqat for the last time on Monday, just hours before his execution. After the execution, the Guardian reports that Hussain’s older brother saw the body and noticed a large cut in Shafqat Hussain’s neck, as if the hanging had been “botched.”
[Photo from Express Tribune ]
