Raja Anir (m), aged 36

[sclcookie]

24 May 2006
UA 146/06 Imminent execution

PAKISTAN Raja Anir (m), aged 36


Raja Anir is scheduled for execution on 29 May.

He reportedly confessed to the murder for which he has been
sentenced to hang. He has been on death row in the capital,
Islamabad, for eight years.


BACKGROUND INFORMATION
In 2005 at least 241 people were sentenced to death in
Pakistan, and at least 31 were executed, the majority for
murder. Many well-off convicts were able to escape
punishment under provisions of the Qisas and Diyat
Ordinance, which allows relatives of murder victims to
accept compensation and pardon the offender.

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all
cases. The death penalty is a symptom of a culture of
violence, and not a solution to it. It has not been shown
to have any greater deterrent effect than other
punishments, and carries the risk of irrevocable error. The
death penalty is the ultimate form of cruel, inhuman and
degrading treatment, and a violation of the right to life,
as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
and other international human rights instruments.


RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as
quickly as possible:
- calling on President Musharraf to use his powers under
article 45 of the Constitution of Pakistan to commute the
death sentence passed on Raja Anir to a more humane
punishment immediately;
- calling for an immediate moratorium on all executions in
the country, as a first step towards abolition of the death
penalty.


APPEALS TO:
General Pervez Musharraf
Pakistan Secretariat
Islamabad, Pakistan
Fax: [phone]
E-mail: via the president's website:
www.presidentofpakistan.gov.pk/WTPresidentMessage.aspx
Salutation: Dear President Musharraf


COPIES TO:
Ambassador Jehangir Karamat
Embassy of Pakistan
2315 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington DC 20008
Fax: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]


Please send appeals immediately. Check with the AIUSA
Urgent Action office between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm, Eastern
Time, weekdays only, if sending appeals after 29 May 2006.


Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement
that promotes and defends human rights.


Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: [e-mail]
www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------