Pakistan hangs 7 convicts two days after imposing moratorium on executions during Ramadan

A day after Pakistan said it was imposing a moratorium on executions during Ramadan, seven death row convicts were reportedly hanged in various jails around the country.

On 14 June, The Guardian had reported that Pakistani authorities had imposed a month-long moratorium on executions in view of the holy month of Ramadan which starts on 18 June. However, according to reports, seven convicts were executed on 16 June.

The total number of those hanged to death since the moratorium was lifted in December 2014 has touched 160, reports Al Jazeera.

"It is a tradition that nobody is executed in the fasting month of Ramadan and the authorities have ordered that this tradition continues this year too," the inspector general of prisons in southern Sindh was quoted as saying.

Incidentally, this is the same jail where Shafqat Hussain, who was set to be executed on 9 June, has been lodged. However, he was given a last minute reprieve after Amnesty International and other rights groups put pressure on the Pakistani government.

The present moratorium on death penalty gives further relief to Hussain, as jail authorities have to seek death warrants two weeks prior to hanging any convict. "So his hanging will take place after at least one month," inspector general Nusrat Mangan told AFP.

Pakistan had lifted the moratorium on death penalty after Taliban militants attacked a military school killing 145 people including 132 school children, in December 2014.

Since the country restarted executing convicts, more than 150 people have been hanged and Amnesty states that there are at least 8,000 convicts on death roll in jails across Pakistan.