Pakistan hangs five death row convicts

Five death row convicts were executed in various jails in Pakistan's Punjab province on Thursday morning while the execution of two convicts was halted, media reported.

Following the deadly terrorist attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar on December 16 in which over 140 students and staff were killed, 71 convicts have been hanged across the country, Dawn online reported.

Two convicts, Qaiser and Majid, were hanged to death in Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.

Qaiser was accused of murdering a colleague and Majid was given death sentence for killing six people in Wah Cantt.

Both convicts hailed from Rawalpindi division.

Two convicts were also executed in Gujranwala Central Jail.

Convicts Abdul Jabbar and Aijaz were awarded the death sentence for murder.

Zafar Iqbal, convicted for murdering a woman who resisted during a robbery in 2005, was hanged to death in Faisalabad Central Jail.

Meanwhile, the hangings of two convicts, Nizam Deen and Muhammad Hussain, were cancelled after their heirs managed to produce agreements between the plaintiffs and defending parties before the jail authorities.

The Pakistan government lifted the moratorium on the death penalty in terrorism related cases in the wake of the Taliban attack on the Army School in Peshawar. - IANS