Nine more executed in Pakistan

Pakistan yesterday hanged nine more jailed murderers, officials said, taking the number of convicts executed over the past two days to 21, as the European Union condemned the executions.

The latest round in Punjab province brings to 48 the total number of convicts hanged since Pakistan resumed capital punishment in December after Taliban militants gunned down 154 people, most of them children, at a school in the restive northwest.

The partial lifting of the moratorium, which began in 2008, only applied to those convicted of terrorism offences, but was last week extended to all capital offences.

The EU granted Pakistan the much coveted "GSP+" status in 2014, giving it access to highly favourable trade tariffs, conditional on Pakistan enacting certain commitments on human rights.

But the agreement is not due for renewal until 2016.

Human rights group Amnesty International estimates that Pakistan has more than 8,000 prisoners on death row, most of whom have exhausted the appeals process.