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
JUNE 6, 2021PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: COURT ACQUITS CHRISTIAN COUPLE OF ‘BLASPHEMY’
A Pakistani court on 3 June 2021 acquitted a Christian couple who have spent seven years on death row for alleged blasphemy, their lawyer says, in a case that rights groups have long singled out for fair trial issues.
JUNE 1, 2021PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: TWO MURDERERS AWARDED DEATH SENTENCE BY PINDI COURT
The Rawalpindi District Session Court on 31 May 2021 awarded a death sentence to two accused in a murder case.
MAY 19, 2021PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: DEATH PENALTY AWARDED TO MURDER CONVICT COMMUTED TO LIFE SENTENCE
The Sindh High Court commuted on 18 May 2021 the death sentence awarded to a murder convict into life imprisonment.
MAY 11, 2021PakistanDEATH PENALTYSAUDI ARABIA TO RELEASE 1,100 PAKISTANI PRISONERS
Pakistan on 10 May 2021 said that 1,100 of its nationals imprisoned in Saudi Arabia will return to the country soon after agreements were reached with Riyadh on the release of inmates.
- MAY 4, 2021PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN DECRIES EU PARLIAMENT’S MOVE ON BLASPHEMY LAWS
Pakistan on 30 April 2021 decried a move by the European Parliament, which a day earlier adopted a resolution demanding Islamabad allow freedom for religious minorities.
MAY 1, 2021PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: MAN AWARDED 4 COUNTS OF DEATH PENALTY IN QUADRUPLE MURDER CASE
A man convicted of killing four people in Rawalpindi Airport area has been handed four counts of death penalty, two life terms, 25 years imprisonment and Rs3.4 million in fines and compensation to victim families, The Nation reported on 28 April 2021.
- APRIL 13, 2021PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN: MAN, SON SENTENCED TO DEATH OVER MURDER
A Mardan court on 1 April 2021 awarded a death sentence to a man and his son for stabbing to death his wife.
APRIL 8, 2021PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: COURT AWARDS DEATH PENALTY, LIFE TERM IN MURDER CASE
Sargodha additional district and Session Judge, Khalid Wazir on 6 April 2021 awarded death sentence to a man and another to life imprisonment of 32-year in a murder case in Factory Area police limits.
APRIL 6, 2021PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: SINDH HIGH COURT COMMUTES THREE DEATH SENTENCES
The Sindh High Court (SHC) on 5 April 2021 commuted the death sentences that had been handed down against three men to life imprisonment, in two separate cases.
- MARCH 31, 2021PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN: SHC COMMUTES MAN’S DEATH SENTENCE INTO LIFE TERM
The Sindh High Court (SHC) on 30 March 2021 commuted the death sentence of a convicted man into life term in a murder case of his wife.
- MARCH 30, 2021PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RAPING AND KILLING MINOR GIRL
An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan on 27 March 2021 handed down death sentence to a man for raping and murdering a minor girl in 2019 in Punjab province.
MARCH 24, 2021PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: SC CONVERTS DEATH SENTENCE INTO LIFE-TERM
The Supreme Court (SC) on 22 March 2021 converted the death sentence of a murder convict into life imprisonment.
MARCH 23, 2021PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: COURT AWARDS DEATH PENALTY TO MAN IN MURDER CASE
A man involved in robbery and murder was awarded death penalty on 10 March 2021 by a court in Rawalpindi.
MARCH 22, 2021PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: PAIR SENTENCED TO DEATH OVER MOTORWAY GANG RAPE
A Pakistani court on 20 March 2021 sentenced two men to death over the gang rape of a French-Pakistani mother, lawyers said, an attack that prompted nationwide protests and tough new anti-rape legislation.
- MARCH 17, 2021PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN: SHC COMMUTES DEATH SENTENCE INTO LIFE TERM IN A MURDER CASE
The Sindh High Court (SHC) on 17 March 2021 commuted the death sentence of accused Farhan Ahmed to life imprisonment in alleged murder case.
MARCH 16, 2021PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: CLERIC SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR RAPING MINOR IN PESHAWAR
A Pakistani court on 13 March 2021 sentenced a cleric to death for sexually assaulting an eight-year-old girl in Peshawar city two years ago, the Dawn reported.
MARCH 15, 2021PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: CHRISTIAN SERVING LIFE FOR BLASPHEMY GETS DEATH SENTENCE
A Pakistani court has given the death sentence to a Christian previously jailed for life after being convicted of sending text messages defaming Prophet Muhammad, UCA News reported on 12 March 2021.
MARCH 9, 2021PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: DEATH SENTENCE OF WALI BABAR’S KILLERS QUASHED
A double bench of the Sindh High Court, Larkana, on 4 March 2021, accepting the appeal of convicted accused in journalist Wali Babar case, quashed the sentence passed by the ATC Court, Kandhkot.
MARCH 8, 2021PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: MAN WHO RAPED FIVE-YEAR-OLD GIRL GETS DEATH SENTENCE
Rawalpindi Additional District and Sessions Judge Jehangir Gondal awarded a death sentence and imposed a fine of Rs500,000 on a man convicted of raping a five-year-old girl.
FEBRUARY 27, 2021PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: HIGH COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE OF MAN WHO MURDERED 16-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER
The Sindh High Court on 26 February 2021 dismissed the appeal of a man against his death sentence. He was convicted of murdering his 16-year-old daughter.
- FEBRUARY 27, 2021PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN: CHRISTIAN COUPLE ON DEATH ROW HAVE BLASPHEMY APPEAL DELAYED INDEFINITELY
A Pakistani high court on 24 February 2021 indefinitely delayed the appeal hearing of a Christian couple who have been on death row since 2014.
- FEBRUARY 10, 2021PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN: DEATH SENTENCE COMMUTED FOR TWO MENTALLY ILL CONVICTS
In a landmark ruling, Pakistan's top court on 10 February 2021 commuted the death sentences of two mentally ill prisoners who have spent decades on death row, the first such ruling in this conservative Muslim-majority nation.
- FEBRUARY 8, 2021PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN: SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE OF MAN WHO RAPED, MURDERED 8-YEAR-OLD GIRL
Pakistan’s top court on 5 February 2021 dismissed an appeal filed by a man convicted to death for the rape and murder of an 8-year old girl in Punjab’s southern district Vehari.
FEBRUARY 3, 2021PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: SUPREME COURT ORDERS MAN ACQUITTED IN PEARL MURDER OFF DEATH ROW
Pakistan’s Supreme Court on 2 February 2021 ordered the Pakistani-British man acquitted of the 2002 beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl off death row and moved to a so-called government “safe house.”
JANUARY 31, 2021PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: LHC ACQUITS TWO DEATH ROW CONVICTS AFTER 9 YEARS
The Lahore High Court (LHC) on 27 January 2021 acquitted two death row convicts who had been serving prison time for the past 9 years. The court acquitted the convicts over lack of solid evidence against them.
JANUARY 28, 2021PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: COUPLE SENTENCED TO LIFE AND DEATH FOR SEXUALLY ASSAULTING, FILMING 45 GIRLS
A local court in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on 25 January 2021 sentenced a couple to life and death for kidnapping, sexually assaulting, blackmailing and also recording inappropriate videos of dozens of girls.
JANUARY 23, 2021PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: FRONTIER CORPS MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING STUDENT IN TURBAT
A sepoy of the Frontier Corps was sentenced to death on 20 January 2021 over killing of a Karachi University student in August last year.
- JANUARY 18, 2021PakistanDEATH PENALTY
PAKISTAN: BANNED OUTFIT’S HITMAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING THREE
An antiterrorism court on 17 January 2021 awarded death sentence to a hitman, said to be associated with the banned outfit Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, for killing three people during an attack on a shrine, the Dawn reported.
JANUARY 14, 2021PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: ATC AWARDS TWO TIME DEATH SENTENCE IN POLICE OFFICIAL MURDER CASE
The Anti-Terrorist Court (ATC), Rawalpindi Judge Raja Pervez Akhtar on 13 January 2021 awarded two times the death sentence to an accused in the murder case of a policeman.
JANUARY 10, 2021PakistanDEATH PENALTYPAKISTAN: ISLAMABAD ATC SENTENCES 3 TO DEATH FOR SHARING BLASPHEMOUS CONTENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA
An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on 8 January 2021 sentenced three men to death for sharing blasphemous content on social media. A fourth accused in the same case was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.