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UA 367/91 - Pakistan: Death sentence / public hanging: Zafar Iqbal

, Index number: ASA 33/019/1991

EXTERNAL (for general distribution) AI Index: ASA 33/19/91
Distr: UA/SC
UA 367/91 Death Sentence/Public Hanging 1 November 1991
PAKISTAN Zafar Iqbal
Amnesty International is deeply disturbed by reports that Zafar Iqbal has been
sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a teenage girl in the village
of Chakwal, Punjab Province, and that the execution is to be carried out in
public. Zafar Iqbal was sentenced to death by a Special Court for Speedy Trials
in Rawalpindi in September after a trial lasting only three days; his appeal
against the conviction was turned down on 11 October. According to the report,
although no date for the execution has been set, preparations for the execution
by hanging are being made in the main square of the town of Chakwal, 100
kilometres south of Islamabad.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
On taking office in November 1990, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced a
"crackdown" on what he believed to be an increasing wave of crime in the country.
This year the government has introduced legislation extending the death penalty
to include kidnapping and abduction for ransom and reintroduced public hangings.
The last public hanging in Pakistan was carried out in 1980 in the Punjab
capital of Lahore when three men were executed for killing a boy.
In August the 12th Amendment to the Constitution was passed providing
for the setting up of about 11 Special Courts for Speedy Trials which are
empowered to try crimes considered to be "gruesome, brutal and sensational
in character". Amnesty International is concerned that these speedy courts
do not conform to international standards for fair trial; the accused can be
sentenced to death after a trial lasting only two to three days; no court
adjournment can last for more than two days, a limitation which may affect
the presentation of witnesses before the court; an appeal may be
filed by the convicted person within seven days only and the Supreme Appellate
Court which hears the appeal then has to come to a decision within 30 days.
In October Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced that those people who were
sentenced to death by the Special Courts for Speedy Trials would be hanged
in public.
page 2 of UA 367/91
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Telegrams/telexes/faxes/express and airmail letters:
- appealing to President Ghulam Ishaq Khan to commute the death sentence
given to Zafar Iqbal under the power granted to him in Article 45 of the
Constitution;
- expressing concern that Zafar Iqbal was sentenced to death after
a trial which lasted only three days, by a Special Court for Speedy
Trials which does not conform to international standards for fair trial;
- expressing grave concern that Zafar Iqbal has been sentenced to be
hanged in public and opposing this as the ultimate form of torture
and degrading treatment;
- expressing opposition to the death penalty in all cases as the
ultimate form of torture and as a violation of the right to life.
APPEALS TO
President Ghulam Ishaq Khan Dear President
The Presidency
Murree Brewery Road
Rawalpindi
Pakistan
Telegrams: President, Rawalpindi President's House, Pakistan
Telexes: 54058 PSPUB PK
Mian Nawaz Sharif Dear Prime Minister
Prime Minister
Office of the Prime Minister
Islamabad, Pakistan
Telegrams: Prime Minister, Islamabad, Pakistan
Mr Shujaat Hussain Dear Minister
Minister of the Interior
Ministry of the Interior
Pak Secretariat, Block R
Islamabad, Pakistan
Telegrams: Interior Minister, Islamabad, Pakistan
Chaudhary Abdul Ghafoor Dear Minister
Minister of Law & Justice
Ministry of Law & Justice
Pak Secretariat, Blocks R & S
Islamabad, Pakistan
Telegrams: Law & Justice Minister, Islamabad, Pakistan
Aziz A Munshi Dear Attorney General
Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General
Islamabad, Pakistan
Telegrams: Attorney General, Islamabad, Pakistan
COPIES TO: diplomatic representatives of Pakistan in your country.
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat,
or your section office, if sending appeals after 30 November 1991.

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