Pak executes five more convicts in second day of mass hangings

Pakistan today hanged five more people convicted for murder, a day after nine death row prisoners were executed after the moratorium on the death penalties was lifted last year following the Peshawar carnage.
Like yesterday, all five executions were carried out in various districts of the largest province of Punjab.
An official of interior ministry said that three convicts were hanged in Gujrat.
One prisoner each was executed in Faisalabad and Dera Ghazi Khan.
All of the convicted men were punished for murders and their appeals against conviction were rejected by the higher courts.
With the fresh execution, the total number of people hanged since lifting of moratorium on death penalties in December has reached 260.

There are about 8,000 death row prisoners in Pakistan.

The official execution spree had come under a lot of criticism from the UN, EU and several local and international human rights groups.
Pakistan has refused to stop it and is trying to use it as a deterrence against militancy in the country.
But most of those hanged so far were not involved in terrorism but convicted for murders.