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Pakistani province revives capital punishment for children
Children as young as seven can be hanged in Pakistan's most populous province after a court overruled a federal law, which had abolished the death penalty for under-18s, a rights lawyer said on Tuesday. Capital punishment for minors was banned four years ago under legislation brought in by the military government of President Pervez Musharraf, which also created separate courts for juveniles. But Punjab province's Lahore High Court annulled the law in a judgement issued late on Monday, saying it encouraged young people to commit serious crimes such as murder and gang rape. "Any child of 7-12 years of age, if commits a serious crime like murder, now can be given death penalty by a court under the Pakistan Penal Code in Punjab province," Islamabad-based lawyer and child rights activist Anees Jillani said. Under the penal code brought back into force in Punjab, children over seven can be executed for murder, gang rape and drug trafficking, although judges can make exceptions up to the age of 12.However the Lahore court's decision could be challenged in the Supreme Court, Jillani added. The judgement blamed the 2000 law for a rise in crime involving young people, saying it provided them immunity from capital punishment and release on probation after conviction. The law had "the tendency of not only encouraging persons below 18 to commit heinous crimes like murder, gang rape, terrorism and trafficking in narcotics etc but prompting the older people to incite their young ones to commit crimes," the judgment added. Special courts established for juvenile offenders in Punjab province would also be abolished. Jillani said the Lahore court had reopened a "settled" question as Pakistan had already ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which defines a child as a person less than 18 years of age. The judgement may lead Pakistan's other three provinces to follow suit, he said. (Agence France-Presse) Posted by: tipper 2004-12-13 |
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