Pakistan
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Retentionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 0
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · In December 1998, the Government set up military trial...
- News items in the archive
- 2,105
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Pakistan is classified as Retentionist in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 0 executions in the country, against 0 the year before. The archive holds 2,105 news items on Pakistan, from 1999 to today.
In Pakistan the death penalty applies to a very wide list of offences, from murder to terrorism to blasphemy, and the method is hanging. The country observed a de facto moratorium for some years, broken after the attack on the school in Peshawar in 2014.
Pakistan's death row is among the most populated in the world. The archive follows executions, sentences, appeals and the cases of people with mental disabilities.
Latest news
- NOVEMBER 29, 2005PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. FIVE TRIBAL MILITANTS SENTENCED TO DEATH
a Pakistani court sentenced five tribal militants to death for killing six people in an attack in southwestern Pakistan.
- NOVEMBER 23, 2005PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. BLASPHEMY RETHINK URGED
the UK's Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, on a visit to Pakistan, asked President Pervez Musharraf to look at the nation's blasphemy law.
- NOVEMBER 8, 2005PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. FATHER AND SON SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER
the Additional Sessions court in Moro, in Pakistan’s Noushehro Firoz district, sentenced ‘Rajab and his son Wali Muhammad Machhi’ to death in a double murder case.
OCTOBER 31, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTYINDIA. PAKISTANI SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR INDIA FORT ATTACK
a Delhi court sentenced to death Mohammad Ashfaq, a Pakistani, over a militant attack at New Delhi's famous 17th Century Red Fort in December 2000.
- OCTOBER 29, 2005PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. 'RUSSIAN PLOTTER' PASSPORT PROBE
it was reported that Russia was seeking consular access to Akhlas Ahmed Akhlak, a Russian man who Pakistan had sentenced to death for allegedly plotting to kill President Pervez Musharraf.
- OCTOBER 27, 2005PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. HIGH COURT COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE TO LIFE
the Peshawar High Court, Pakistan, commuted Said Mehmood’s sentence from death to life and acquitted his son Bakhtiar, co-accused in the murder case.
- OCTOBER 24, 2005PakistanDEATH PENALTY
The death penalty is imposed for several crimes
The death penalty is imposed for several crimes
- OCTOBER 14, 2005PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. ATC AWARDS CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
Taj Muhammad was sentenced to death by the Special Anti Terrorist Court in Sibi, Pakistan.
- OCTOBER 6, 2005PakistanDEATH PENALTY
it was reported that a Pashtun tribesman...
it was reported that a Pashtun tribesman who fell in love with and "married" a 16-year-old boy provoked outrage among Islamic leaders with his "unholy union".
OCTOBER 5, 2005PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN. FOUR SENTENCED TO DEATH IN MUSHARRAF LIFE ATTEMPT
a Pakistani military court sentenced four air force staff to death and two to life in jail on for their involvement in an al Qaeda-inspired assassination attempt on President Pervez Musharraf in 2003.
- OCTOBER 4, 2005PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. RUSSIA DEMANDS EXPLANATION OVER CITIZEN FACING DEATH PENALTY IN PAKISTAN
the Russian embassy in Islamabad requested that the Pakistani Foreign Ministry provide an official explanation and organize a meeting between Russian representatives and Akhlak Akhlas, official Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin announced.
OCTOBER 2, 2005KuwaitDEATH PENALTYKUWAIT. 4 PAKISTANIS HANGED FOR DRUG SMUGGLING
Mohammed Ahmed Khan, 33, Abdul-Basir Abdul Hai Mohammed Ishaq, 50, Faz Mohammed Youseff Khan, 32, and Sayed Mudassar Shah Hekmat, 26, were hanged at a police station in the capital Kuwait City, and the public was later invited to view the strung-up bodies
- SEPTEMBER 28, 2005PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. CONVICTED OF RAPING AND KILLING A 6-YEAR-OLD GIRL EXECUTED
a man convicted of raping and murdering a six-year-old girl was executed in central Pakistan.
- SEPTEMBER 27, 2005PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. COURT UPHOLDS SARABJIT SINGH'S DEATH SENTENCE
Pakistan's Supreme Court upheld a death sentence imposed on Sarabjit Singh, an alleged Indian spy, for a bombing that killed four people in 1990, court officials said.
- SEPTEMBER 20, 2005PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. MAN HANGED FOR RAPE AND MURDER OF SEVEN-YEAR-OLD GIRL
Niaz Ahmed, a man sentenced to death for raping and killing a seven-year-old girl, was executed in eastern Pakistan after President Gen. Pervez Musharraf turned down his plea for clemency.
- SEPTEMBER 17, 2005PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. LASHKAR-I-JHANGVI ACTIVIST GETS DEATH SENTENCE
the Multan No-1 court, an anti terrorist court in Pakistan, awarded a death sentence on two counts to Abu Bakr alias Usman, a hitman of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi activist group, and two life terms to his accomplice Dilawar on charges of killing two riv
- SEPTEMBER 15, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
India. Pakistan court says Indian ‘spy’ deserved death
the death sentence handed to Sarabjit Singh, an Indian national convicted of spying and carrying out a series of bomb attacks, was "well deserved", Pakistan's top court said in its detailed judgement upholding the penalty. Singh was convicted in 1991 by a
- SEPTEMBER 14, 2005PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. FAMILY OF 6 TO BE EXECUTED
Manzoor Ahmad and his son Muhammad Ishaq, Ghulam Mustafa also known as Papoo, Muhammad Ilyas, Muhammad Anwar and Javed Obal, all members of the same family, were due to be executed in prison within the day’s end for shooting three of their relatives to de
- SEPTEMBER 14, 2005PakistanDEATH PENALTY
Arshad Mughal alias Papu was hanged at Kotlakhpat Jail in front of a magistrate and jail authorities.
Arshad Mughal alias Papu was hanged at Kotlakhpat Jail in front of a magistrate and jail authorities.
- SEPTEMBER 13, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. PAKISTAN SAYS DEATH-ROW INDIAN SPY'S FATE DEPENDS ON MERCY
it was reported that Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri told the Hindi news channel Aaj Tak that the fate of Sarabjit Singh, an Indian national on death row in Pakistan convicted as a spy and for setting bombs that killed several people, c
- SEPTEMBER 10, 2005PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. PRESIDENT EXAMINING CASE OF INDIAN NATIONAL ON DEATH ROW SARABJIT SINGH
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said he had taken no decision yet on the fate of an Indian national sentenced to hang on spying and bombing charges but added he was examining the case
- SEPTEMBER 6, 2005PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. INDIAN NATIONAL ON DEATH ROW IN PAKISTAN TO BE SPARED, REPORT
Islamabad assured New Delhi that Sarabjit Singh, an Indian sentenced to be hanged in Pakistan on bombing and spying charges, would be reprieved, the Hindu newspaper said.
- SEPTEMBER 5, 2005IndiaDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. JAMA MASJID IMAM URGES PAKISTAN’S MUSHARRAF TO FREE DEATH ROW INMATE SARABJIT SINGH
the Imam of New Delhi's Jama Masjid, Syed Abdullah Bukhari and his son Syed Yahaya Bukhari, who is the President of the Jama Masjid United Front, appealed to Pakistan's President General Pervez Musharraf to release Indian death row inmate Sarabjit Singh o
- AUGUST 30, 2005PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. INDIAN DIPLOMATS VISIT DEATH ROW PRISONER
Indian diplomats met Sarabjit Singh, a prisoner held on death row in Pakistan on bombing and spying charges, saying afterwards that they were hopeful of resolving the case. Islamabad accused Sarabjit of being an Indian agent who carried out four bomb atta
- AUGUST 26, 2005PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. INDIA GRANTED CONSULAR ACCESS TO "SPY" ON DEATH ROW
Islamabad agreed to allow Indian diplomats to visit Sarabjit Singh, one of their nationals on death row on charges of being a spy, Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said. Pakistan had Singh of being an Indian spy who carried out four bomb attacks, but
- AUGUST 26, 2005PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. FIVE SENTENCED TO HANG FOR MUSHARRAF PLOT
Pakistan sentenced five men, including a soldier, to hang for their role in an al Qaeda-inspired assassination attempt on President Pervez Musharraf in late 2003, a military spokesman said. Musharraf, one of the West's main allies in a global war on terro
- AUGUST 25, 2005PakistanDEATH PENALTY
INDIA. 5,000 RALLY FOR ALLEGED INDIAN SPY FACING DEATH IN PAKISTAN
nearly 5,000 people held a rally as shops and businesses shut down in the home town of Sarabjeet Singh, an Indian facing death by hanging in Pakistan, demanding clemency and his immediate return home. In New Delhi, India's External Affairs Minister Natwar
- AUGUST 24, 2005PakistanDEATH PENALTY
Muhammad Asghar, Ahmad Sher and Falak Sher were hanged in Pakistan for murder.
Muhammad Asghar, Ahmad Sher and Falak Sher were hanged in Pakistan for murder.
- AUGUST 24, 2005PakistanDEATH PENALTY
Abdul Ghaffar was hanged in Pakistan for murder.
Abdul Ghaffar was hanged in Pakistan for murder.
- AUGUST 23, 2005PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN. INDIAN LEADER TO QUESTION PAKISTAN'S MUSHARRAF ABOUT CONDEMNED ‘SPY’
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he would speak to Pakistan's president about Sarabjit Singh, an alleged Indian spy handed the death sentence in Pakistan.