Pakistan hangs four death row prisoners

Pakistan today hanged four prisoners, a day after a record 17 convicts were executed following the reversal of the country's self-imposed moratorium on the death penalty in December.
All the four death row prisoners were executed in different jails of Punjab province.
Rizwan and Moazzam Khan were executed in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Jail. Rizwan had killed six people in 2006, while Khan murdered a man in 1995.
Mohammad Nazeer was hanged in Bahawalpur Central Jail for killing a man in 2001, while another convict was hanged in Sahiwal Central Jail for shooting dead a police constable in the same year.

The latest executions brought to 85 the total number of convicts hanged since Pakistan resumed executions on December 17, a day after a Taliban attack on an army school in Peshawar that killed more than 150 people, mostly children.
Yesterday, authorities hanged 17 prisoners, the highest number of executions on a single day.

There are about 8,000 death row prisoners languishing in the country's different jails.
Initially executions were limited to terrorism offences but on March 10 the government decided to implement death penalty in all cases following the Peshawar school massacre in December.
The moratorium on executions had been in place since a democratic government took power from a military ruler in 2008.

Supporters of the execution argue that it is the only option to deal with the scourge of militancy but human rights group are highly critical of it.
Pakistan executed 12 prisoners convicted under militancy and murders charges on March 12, the second highest number of hangings in a single day since the moratorium on death penalty was lifted.