PAKISTAN: AI ASKS ZARDARI TO COMMUTE DEATH SENTENCES

Amnesty International (AI) called upon Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari to mark Benazir Bhutto’s birthday by commuting all death sentences to life imprisonment. “AI is encouraged by the decreased number of death sentences and executions in Pakistan in 2008,” a press release said. “We urge the president to enact the prime minister’s commutation proposal, and follow the example of Benazir, who commuted all death sentences to life imprisonment after being elected prime minister in 1988.”