An anti-terrorism court in Karachi handed death sentences to three murderers, on Monday.
The three killers had murdered a trader on August 17, 2010 after they had kidnapped him for ransom.
The trader was murdered despite his family paying Rs10 million in ransom. The kidnappers reportedly killed the hostage in fear of getting caught.
Businessmen in the city are often targeted by extortionists while police response to such incidents is not very satisfactory.
Death penalty
No execution has been carried out in Pakistan since 2008 except one inmate, who was executed on November 14, 2012 under the orders of a military court.
The last government of Pakistan Peoples Party – through a moratorium – stopped executions under death penalties.
Recently, the federal government had claimed that there are only a total of 547 persons on death row in the country – a figure strongly contested by human rights organisations.
Of these prisoners, 63 were awarded death sentences on their involvement in terrorist activities while the rest had committed murders.
