Pakistan executes seven terror convicts

Seven terror convicts were hanged in four prisons in Pakistan on Tuesday, bringing the total execution count in the country since December to 17.

Four of the executed terrorists Shahid Hanif, Talha Hussain, Khalil Ahmed y Behram Khan received the maximum sentence in two prisons in southern Pakistan, according to the local Geo TV and the Dawn daily.

The first three were executed for killing a senior defense ministry official in 2001 whereas Khan was hanged for killing a lawyer in 2003.

The other three convicts were executed in two prisons of the eastern province of Punjab: Zulfikar Ali for killing two police officers, and Mushtaq Ahmed and Nawazish Ali for their involvement in two assasination attempts on thenpresident Pervez Musharraf in 2003.

The massacre at a school on Dec.1 6 in which 132 children and 12 teachers died and which was claimed by Tehrike Taliban Pakistan, TTP, the country’s main Taliban group, prompted Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to lift the moratorium on the death penalty in cases related to terrorism.

Last week, both the Pakistani upper and lower houses of parliament approved the creation of special military courts over the next two years to prosecute those accused of terrorism.

Pakistan’s authorities have announced that more than 500 terror convicts will be executed in the next few weeks.