Press release

Capital punishment in Pakistan amounts to torture

Lahore, 10 October 2022. On this year’s World Day against the Death Penalty, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) reiterates its stance against capital punishment, not only on the grounds that the state’s duty is to protect the right to life, but also that the death penalty is incompatible with Pakistan’s international obligation to prohibit torture and the use of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.

In a briefing note co-authored with the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), HRCP observes that the use of torture exists at all stages of the death penalty process: from the practice of custodial torture to coerce confessions from persons accused of capital crimes, to squalid conditions on death row—including the mental anguish of anticipating execution—to the act of execution by hanging itself. HRCP also notes that there is no official data on the incidence of botched executions in Pakistan and therefore no accountability. This represents a serious flaw in the criminal justice system.

Despite a welcome drop in the number of executions and death sentences since 2020, poor and vulnerable prisoners remain disproportionately likely to be sentenced to death. It is also a matter of grave concern that a wide range of offences that do not meet the threshold of ‘the most serious crimes’ still carry the death sentence.

HRCP demands that the state immediately establish an official moratorium on executions and ensure that law enforcement who rely on torture to obtain evidence are held strictly accountable. The right to fair trial for those accused of capital crimes must also be respected, while conditions on death row, especially for persons accused of blasphemy, must be improved. HRCP also urges the government to ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty.

Hina Jilani
Chairperson

The briefing note can be accessed at http://hrcp-web.org/hrcpweb/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/2022-Pakistan-Briefing-note-on-the-death-penalty-EN.pdf