CAGE is calling on Pakistan to halt the execution of a man who has been denied his basic rights and who is due to be hanged within hours.

Mushtaq Ahmad, a civilian, has been on death row since 2004 after General Musharraf accused him of the actual triggering of the explosive in a failed attack against him in 2003 while he was in the city of Rawalpindi. Despite the fact that another man Abdul Islam Sidduqui, was convicted and later hanged for that very same act, Mushtaq Ahmad could go to the gallows within hours.
The move to execute Mushtaq came after a six year moratorium on executions was lifted last week by Pakistan President Nawaz Sharif in the wake of the  Peshawar school attack. He was among 500 prisoners whose executions, it was said,  would be fast-tracked, despite their having no links with the attack whatsoever.
His case has also been marred by a lack of due process including: torture; no presentation of evidence except confessions gained under torture; and no right of appeal. The proceedings were conducted in camera (in private) inside a military court even though he is a civilian.
Asim Qureshi of CAGE, said: ‘We call on Pakistani authorities to immediately halt this execution and look into the facts of the case. This is a man who has been denied due process on an extraordinary scale.’
‘Pakistan is at crucial juncture where it must decide whether it wants to cause more conflict by killing 500 men who had nothing to do with last week’s school bombing, or whether it wants to try and find a way out of the internecine violence that has engulfed it for most of this century. Now is the time for considered responses, not impetuous reactions.’
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(NOTE: CAGE represents cases of individuals based on the remit of our work. Supporting a case does not mean we agree with the views or actions of the individual. Content published on CAGE may not reflect the official position of our organisation.)