Can you generalise about the crimes, background and ages of the people sentenced to death?
IAR: The largest group comprises of men convicted of murder, some 147 in 2007. There were also two women sentenced to death for murder in 2007. Other crimes for which death penalty can be awarded are drug smuggling, kidnapping for ransom, rape, robbery, terrorism. As for the age and background of those sentenced to death, I am unable to give you details. IPS: How can you stop the execution numbers rising even more this year? IAR. The only way is to reduce the number of offences liable to the death sentence and by reviving the practice of commutation. For the last two years, HRCP has been demanding a moratorium on executions, pending the abolition of death penalty. IPS: The HRCP reports that Pakistan has more than 7,000 on death row. Can you explain how 134 of these were selected for the gallows last year? IAR: There is no logical way of selecting candidates for execution. Those who complete the process of trial, review and mercy application can be hanged. It goes something like this: f
