Tortured Juvenile To Hang Tonight

Update:

5:48 PST, August 4, 2015

In the early hours of this morning, Pakistan executed Shafqat Hussain. I am writing to thank you for everything you did to try to save his life.

I can’t say that this is anything other than devastating news. We had hoped that President Mamnoon Hussain might intervene at the last moment and grant another stay, but he did not.

Reprieve’s supporters sent more than 36,000 letters to the Pakistani government – a phenomenal show of support and solidarity. Shafqat did not die alone. We were all with him.

If anything good is to come of this, it’s that Pakistan knows that the world does not support its barbaric determination to continue killing people – particularly those who were tortured into confessing, or were sentenced to death when they were children. And Shafqat’s death shows that we must continue to stand up for victims of state violence.

Your support meant a great deal to Shafqat and his family. Thank you.

Clive Stafford Smith
Founder & Director

Original Story: Tortured Juvenile To Hang Tonight

A child tortured into falsely admitting a crime and scheduled to hang at midnight tonight is causing international outrage. Prison staff have taken his measurements for the hanging. These days, that could be anybody’s now grown child. An urgent call is being made to help halt this hanging.

“I am writing to you with an urgent request. We have only twelve hours to save Shafqat Hussain’s life. He was a child when he was sentenced to death – he had confessed after enduring 9 days of torture at the hands of police,” states Reprieve in a written statement today. “Under International and Pakistani law, it is illegal to sentence a minor to death. Despite this, the Pakistani government has refused to support a judicial inquiry into Shafqat’s age, and has withheld documents which could prove that he was a child at the time of the crime.

Shafqat’s conviction is based on evidence obtained after police brutally tortured him.

“He was blindfolded, kept in solitary confinement, beaten, electrocuted, and burned with cigarettes. After 9 days of abuse, Shafqat – a child – could take no more. He then signed a false confession to make his abusers stop.”

Last week Shafqat was issued his seventh execution warrant, and his hanging is now scheduled for midnight tonight.

Click here to email President Mamnoon Hussain

Shafqat has spent over a decade on death row. During this time, Pakistani authorities repeatedly tried to execute him. But Reprieve and its supporters all over the world joined in protest, and managed to stop them, according to Reprieve.

You can take action to save Shafqat’s life. Please email President Mamnoon, and ask him to grant Shafqat another stay of execution.

Click here to email President Mamnoon Hussain

Several human rights bodies have spoken against Shafqat’s trial and death sentence, including the UN and the Sindh Human Rights Commission. They condemned Pakistan’s reliance on evidence extracted through torture, and have called for a full inquiry into Shafqat’s case.

Shafqat was dangerously close to execution in January, then in March, and again in June.

“We worked together to prevent his death, and succeeded. Please take action to save Shafqat’s life once more, and demand a full inquiry into his case,” Reprieve urges.

Click here to email President Mamnoon Hussain