Pakistan hangs man who was 15 when convicted

Pakistan has executed a man who was 15 when he was sentenced to death for murder and whose lawyers say was tortured into confessing, in a case that has prompted concern among rights groups and the United Nations.

Aftab Bahadur was sentenced to death for killing three people in 1992 and human rights group Reprieve said two witnesses who implicated Bahadur had since recanted, saying they were tortured.

At the time, the death penalty could be passed on a 15 year old, but the minimum age was raised to 18 in 2000.
Testimony obtained by torture is also inadmissible. The date of birth on Bahadur’s birth certificate and national identity card, June 30, 1977, is not disputed by authorities.

“Pakistan proceeded with Mr Bahadur’s execution despite his having been sentenced to death when he was a child – in violation of both international and Pakistani law,” Reprieve said.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif lifted the moratorium on the death penalty last year, a day after Pakistani Taliban gunmen attacked a school and killed 134 pupils and 19 adults. The killings put pressure on the government to do more to tackle the Islamist insurgency.