Pakistan hangs 'teen' convict for child murder

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan

Pakistan has gone through with the controversial hanging of a man convicted of killing a child but whose death penalty was criticized because of concerns about his own age when convicted.

Officials said the hanging took place at a jail in the southern port city Karachi on Tuesday after repeated delays caused by local and international rights groups contending that Shafqat Hussein was a juvenile when arrested, making him ineligible for the death sentence. 

Hussein was convicted in 2004 of abducting, raping and killing a 7-year-old child and his death penalty returned to the spotlight this year when Pakistan ended a moratorium on executions in December.

His appeals were rejected and a Supreme Court-ordered medical investigation confirmed that he was above 18 at the time of the crime.

Rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, who have criticized the reintroduction of the death penalty, issued urgent warnings earlier in the year calling on Pakistan to halt the execution, leading to his hanging being stayed twice this year.