[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 17



PAKISTAN----executions

Brothers hanged for killing relatives


4 brothers were hanged in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province on Tuesday
for murdering their own relatives 8 years ago over a land dispute, police
said.

The men - Khuda Bukhsh, Mohammad Akram, Mohammad Iqbal and Mohammad Asghar
- were executed at the Multan central prison, police officer Afsar Khan
told Reuters.

He said the brothers along with their father had slaughtered 13 of their
relatives including women over a land dispute near Multan in 1999. A court
sentenced the 4 a year later but the father died in custody before the
conviction.

"All of their appeals were rejected as there was solid evidence against
them and also nobody left in the deceased family to pardon them," Khan
said.

Under Islamic law, Pakistani courts can set aside the death penalty if the
heirs of a deceased person pardon a murderer.

A leading human rights group in Pakistan has reported that more than 7 000
people are still on death row in the Muslim country and more than 50 were
executed in the first half of 2006.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said in its most recent report
that most of the death sentences were carried out in Punjab, the country's
most populous province, where about 6 985 prisoners are on death row.

(source: Reuters)