The death penalty is imposed for several crimes, including...

The death penalty is imposed for several crimes, including robbery, hijacking, arms trading, drug trafficking, rape, and capital offenses, under Shari'a Law, introduced with governmental decrees, such as sexual relations between partners not married to each other and blasphemy. The Law against blasphemy was introduced in Pakistan by General Zia ul-Haq in 1985, which implemented the death penalty for anyone insulting the prophet Mohammed. Furthermore, the hudud laws [Koranic punishment] of 1979, which include stoning to death for fornication, judicial amputation for theft and armed robbery, and flogging for consumption of intoxicants apply, without exception, to all parts of Pakistan and override all other legislation, including that relating to children. Most death sentences since 1997 have been handed down by special anti-terrorist courts set up by then prime minister Nawaz Sharif's government to combat growing terrorist attacks in the country. These courts hold trials within seven days. Convicted persons have to appeal within seven days, and the appeal must also be heard and decided within a week. "These provisions contravene Article 14(3)(b) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which entitles any person charged with a criminal offence to have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defence," says Nazeer Bhutta, a local lawyer. Although the military government has abolished the death penalty for minors under age 18, according to the Punjab Prison Department statistics, there are at least 50 prisoners still in jail who were given the death sentence when they were under 18. A Human Rights Watch report notes that Pakistan is one of the few countries to have executed juvenile offenders in the 1990s. The report listed the September 1997 hanging of Shamun Masih in Hyderabad Central Prison. Masih had been sentenced to death in August 1991 for an armed robbery and triple murder committed in 1988, when he was 14 years old.