LAHORE/RAWALPINDI: Five death row prisoners were executed on Friday morning in Lahore Kot Lakhpat and Rawalpindi's and Adiala Jail.

Three death row prisoners were executed in Kot Lakhpat Jail, Lahore.

Nadeem Shahzad of Garhi Shahu and Samar John of Youhanabad were put on death row for murdering an MBA student in 1999. What started as a kidnapping of the student ended with his murder after the two killers did not receive the demanded ransom.

Riaz Yousuf of Township was also hanged in Kot Lakhpat Jail early Friday. He was convicted for murdering a woman and her four children in 1999.

Zafar Iqbal of Mandara and Muhammad Ashraf of Wah Cantt were hanged in Adiala Jail. Both were convicted of murder in separate cases, with the former being convicted in 2000 and the latter in 2002.

Also read: Black warrant issued for Shafqat’s execution on Aug 4

Resumption of hangings

The execution of convicted prisoners had been suspended for a month by the federal government prior to the commencement of Ramazan. However, hangings resumed after Eidul Fitr and two condemned prisoners were executed in Multan Jail on Monday.

In March 2015, the moratorium on the death penalty in all capital cases was lifted after restarting executions for terrorism offences in the wake of the Taliban attack on Peshawar’s Army Public School in December last year.

The United Nations, the European Union, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have called on Pakistan to re-impose its moratorium on the death penalty.

Take a look: Resumption of executions