Pakistan rejected Russian request to not execute citizen

Published December 21, 2014
The Russian govt had asked for the postponement of Akhlaque Ahmed's execution. -Reuters/File
The Russian govt had asked for the postponement of Akhlaque Ahmed's execution. -Reuters/File

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan turned down a request from the Russian government to postpone the death sentence of its citizen Akhlaque Ahmed who was hanged today in Faisalabad.

"Russia repeatedly approached Pakistani authorities with a plea to reconsider the sentence for Akhlaque," said a statement issued on Sunday from the Russian embassy in Islamabad.

Russia said it had wanted the death sentence of Akhlaque Ahmed to be postponed on humanitarian grounds.

Read also: Four convicts in Musharraf attack case executed in Faisalabad

Akhlaque, who also had a citizenship of Pakistan, was sentenced to death in 2005 by a military court for involvement in an attempt on the life of former president Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf in 2003.

The Russian Embassy and Akhlaque's lawyers had been making efforts to postpone the death sentence.

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