Activists today petitioned Pakistan President to stay the imminent execution of a murder convict reported to have been a minor at the time of his crime.
Earlier, on the appeal of a paraplegic man last month, President Mamnoon Hussain had stayed the execution of Syed Saqi Shah, who was only 16 at the time he allegedly committed the crime of murdering a person from a banned militant organisation Lashkar-e- Jhanvi (LeJ).
Shah, who is scheduled to be executed tomorrow, was sentenced to death for a 1992 case of sectarian strife in Jhang district of Punjab province.
"Yet another case of a murder convict who is reported to have been a minor at the time of occurrence has come to light," the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said in a statement.
His age is said to have been confirmed by a school certificate.
"Since this claim needs to be confirmed prudence demands that the hanging of Syed Saqi Shah may be put off by the President till his age at the time of the occurrence and correctness of the trial can be established beyond any shadow of doubt," the Commission said.
The number of executions in Pakistan has crossed 300 mark since the moratorium on death penalty was lifted by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif following the Taliban's deadliest attack on an army-run school in Peshawar in last December, killing 150 people mostly children.
