Two death row prisoners executed

Two prisoners, Akhtar Hussna and Sajid Taru, were executed in Faisalabad central prison on Friday morning after they were found guilty in separate murder cases. An anti-terrorism court (ATC) of Faisalabad had awarded death sentence to Akhtar Hussna in 2001, who had attempted to rape a woman on December 10, 1999 and also stabbed to death her father-in-law, Manzoor, upon resistance.
Though a compromise deal for pardoning Akhtar was reached between the families of victims and the culprit on late Thursday night, authorities concerned rejected the deal, terming murder and rape cases as non-pardonable. The appeals of the convict had already been rejected by the Lahore High Court and the Supreme Court. His mercy appeal was also turned down by the president. The other death row convict, Muhammad Sajid Taru, had killed a woman Khursheed Bibi and wounded her husband Azhar, on March 12, 2000, over a personal feud.