Pakistan: Young offenders taken off death row

Amnesty International welcomes the announcement today that President Musharraf will commute the death sentences of around 100 young offenders. The death sentences will be commuted to imprisonment.

Irene Khan, Amnesty International's Secretary General, raised the plight of the young offenders with the President on Tuesday and asked that their death sentences be commuted. This important action reinforces the worldwide trend to abolish the death penalty in practice or in law.

In other important news on the death penalty, President Emile Lahoud of Lebanon last week told Amnesty International's Secretary General that during his term in office he is committed to imposing a moratorium on executions.