UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations human rights chief expressed alarm on Wednesday over reports that 14 people, including a Pakistani, face imminent execution in Indonesia, most of them for drug-related offences, and called on authorities to immediately reinstate a moratorium on the death penalty.

The executions will reportedly be carried out on Friday at a high-security prison on Nusa Kamban­gan Island in central Java.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed deep concern over the lack of transparency throughout the process and compliance with fair trial guarantees, including the right to appeal.

(A former senior government official revealed that an internal investigation he conducted into the case of a condemned Pakistani, Zulfiqar Ali, suggested he was innocent, Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reported.)

“The increasing use of the death penalty in Indonesia is terribly worrying, and I urge the government to immediately end this practice which is unjust and incompatible with human rights,” said High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein Zeid. “I find it deeply disturbing that Indonesia has already executed 19 people since 2013, making it the most prolific executioner in Southeast Asia,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2016