Shafqat Hussain, who was found guilty by a Pakistani anti-terrorism court of killing a child when he was just 14 in 2004, was spared the death penalty once again this week after his execution was stayed for the second time.
Hussain's case has long been a hangup for human rights organizations, which argue that he was a juvenile who only admitted to kidnapping and killing a child after hours and hours of torture. The activists also object to the now-23-year-old's designation as a terrorist
, NBC News reported.
Hussain is represented by lawyers at the Justice Project Pakistan.
He was arrested and charged with kidnapping and murder after a child he helped babysit went missing in 2004, according to NBC News. He confessed to charges, which were reduced to involuntary manslaughter, but said he only did so because of torture.
"He still carries burn marks on his body from where cigarette stubs were put out on him, his genitals were electrocuted," Shahab Siddiqi, head of communications for JPP, told NBC News.
In announcing the stay of execution, Pakistan's Interior Minister Chaudry Nisar said the case would be
investigated, BBC News reported.
"Executing Shafqat, who was a child when he was tortured into a false 'confession' . . . would do nothing to reduce the terror threat in the country, and would be a grave stain on Pakistan's justice system," Maya Foa from campaign group Reprieve said, according to the BBC.
Pakistan recently lifted a moratorium on the death penalty in terrorism cases, and officials have said they plan to execute
500 convicts in coming weeks, Pakistan Today reported.
Human rights groups say the country overuses anti-terror laws to prosecute ordinary crimes and have called on the country to reinstate its moratorium on the death penalty, Pakistan Today said.
Twitter users commented about the case.
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