Pakistan executions pass 400 despite international protests over re-introduction of the death penalty

The British Government said it had opposed the death penalty with the Pakistani government 'at the highest level'

Pakistan re-started executions in 2014 despite nationwide protests AFP/Getty The number of people executed in Pakistan since it resumed hangings just 18 months ago is feared to have passed 400.

The government has ignored international appeals to reinstate a moratorium on the death penalty, which was removed following a Taliban terror attack that saw 130 children massacred at a school in Peshawar in 2014.

Pakistan has since become one of the most prolific users of the death penalty in the world, executing 404 people so far according to research by Reprieve.

Maya Foa, director of its death penalty team, said: “That Pakistan has gone from a non-executing state to executing over 400 people in little over 18 months is truly shocking.

“The Pakistani Government seems indifferent to the plight of the many prisoners who should not even be on death row – those arrested as children, or suffering from severe physical or mental illnesses.

“They need to put a halt to all executions until a full review of this chaotic capital punishment system can be carried out.”

More than 70 hangings have taken place this year, putting Pakistan among the top countries for the death penalty behind China, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Among a number of controversial cases is that of Abdul Basit, a paralysed prisoner who remains on death row despite concerns that there is no way to execute him that would not carry a high risk of prolonged suffering.