Pakistan on Tuesday, August 4, hanged a man whose case triggered an international outcry because his lawyers said he was arrested as a juvenile and tortured into confessing to murder. Pakistan has hanged nearly 200 people since December, when a massacre by militants at a school in the city of Peshawar prompted the government to lift a de facto ban on capital punishment. Only Iran and China have executed more people than Pakistan this year, says human rights group Amnesty International.

"Shafqat Hussain was this morning executed in Pakistan, despite widespread calls, both within and outside the country, for a stay," legal aid group Justice Project Pakistan, which was representing Hussain, said in a statement.

Pakistani law does not allow the execution of someone arrested as a juvenile. State prosecutors said Hussain was an adult working as a watchman when he was arrested.

Abdul Majeed, brother of Shafqat Hussain who was convicted of killing a child in 2004, sits in an ambulance beside the body of Safqat after his execution in Karachi, Pakistan, August 4, 2015. Reuters Photo.

Lawyers for Hussain said school records showed he was 17 in 2004 when he was burnt with cigarettes and had fingernails removed until he confessed to killing a child.

His family have said he was 14; lawyers said the family did not keep records regarding Hussain's birth.

David Griffiths, Amnesty International’s South Asia research director, said the execution marked a "deeply sad day for Pakistan".

"A man whose age remains disputed and whose conviction was built around torture has now paid with his life,” he said.

Source: The Indian Express