pakistani officials executed 12 people this morning in the country's single largest day of executions since a moratorium on the death penalty was lifted in december the executions  are sure to raise concerns over due process and proper oversight of the country's troubled criminal justice system, which rights groups say often does little to protect defendants prime minister nawaz sharif lifted the moratorium on december 17, a day after pakistani taliban gunmen attacked a school and killed 134 students and 19 adults the killings put pressure the government to do more to tackle the islamist insurgency and the current wave of executions are a continuation of pakistan's crackdown on the taliban scroll down for video  family: relatives of convicted murderer muhammad faisal react after his execution in karachi today  grief: pakistani relatives of convicted murderer muhammad faisal mourn after his execution in karachi  grisly: an ambulance carries the body of murderer muhammad afzal, who was hanged in karachi today  authorities at different jails in the country's largest province of punjab today hanged 10 people who had been sentenced to death in murder cases, said the provincial home minister shuja khanzada he said authorities planned to execute more convicted criminals in the coming weeks, adding: 'we have started a process, and it will continue' the superintendent of the main jail in the southern port city of karachi, qazi nazir, said they executed two convicted murderers and handed their bodies over to their families late last year, pakistan's prime minister lifted the death penalty moratorium specifically for terror related cases after the december taliban attack on a school in peshawar killed 153 people, most of them children last week, in a controversial step, the government completely lifted the death penalty ban for all cases human rights groups estimate pakistan has roughly 8,000 prisoners on death row a relative mourns beside the body of convicted killer muhammad faisal following his execution in karachi  day of death: a man chats on the phone as he sits next to the body of his relative muhammad afzal, who was convicted of murder and executed in karachi earlier this morning  one of the most closely watched execution cases is that of shafqat hussain, who family members say was 14 when he was sentenced to death by a court in karachi for the murder of a seven year old boy hussain's family proclaims his innocence and justice project pakistan, the legal group handling his case, says hussain was tortured into making a false confession the death sentence cannot be used against a defendant under the age of 18 when the crime was committed and testimony obtained by torture is inadmissible 'it's just a sham, there was no inquiry conducted at all,' said shahab siddiqui from justice project pakistan, the legal aid group representing hussain this morning interior minister chaudhry nidar ali khan told the parliament that authorities were still trying to confirm whether hussain was a juvenile when the alleged murder happened hussain is scheduled to be hanged on thursday criticism: the executions are sure to raise concerns over due process and proper oversight of the country's troubled criminal justice system, which rights groups say often does little to protect defendants  attack: human rights groups say convictions in pakistan are highly unreliable because its antiquated criminal justice system barely functions, torture is common and police are mostly untrained  so far, 39 people have been hanged since december more than 40 are scheduled to hang in the next week, an interior ministry spokesman said the ministry is reviewing the cases of hundreds more whose appeals have been exhausted there are more than 8,000 pakistanis on death row the moratorium on executions had been in place since a democratic government took power from a military ruler in 2008 human rights groups say convictions in pakistan are highly unreliable because its antiquated criminal justice system barely functions, torture is common and police are mostly untrained some of pakistan's allies have criticised the executions 'executing a person who committed a crime when he was underage is in violation of international law,' said european union ambassador lars gunnar wigemark 'we do not believe that the death penalty is a deterrent we are furthermore concerned with possible miscarriages of justice' the ministry spokesman said of the 12 executed on tuesday: 'they were not only terrorists, they included the other crimes, some of them were murderers and some did other heinous crimes'
a single day peshawar december punjab taliban karachi pakistan
officials carried out executions of 12 people at jails in punjab and karachi  largest number of executions in a single day in pakistan since moratorium on the death penalty was lifted in december  prime minister lifted the moratorium after taliban terror attack on a school  134 students and 19 adults were savagely killed in the peshawar massacre 