Amnesty International asks Zardari to commute all death sentences

September 30th, 2009 2 Uzbeks from Guantanamo prison arrive in IrelandDUBLIN — Two Uzbeks imprisoned since 2002 in the Guantanamo Bay prison have arrived in Ireland, and Amnesty International is appealing to other European Union nations to deliver on pledges to give new homes to U.S. terror detainees.

September 23rd, 2009 NEW YORK - Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has urged the US to reimburse the $1.6 billion dollars spent on fighting extremism in his country's tribal areas. Zardari made the demand during two separate meetings here with US officials, including special Af-Pak envoy Richard Holbrooke, DawnNews reported.

September 22nd, 2009 NEW YORK - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, who is currently in New York to take part in the United Nations General Assembly, held separate talks with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and former President Bill Clinton. Zardari said meetings with both the leaders were fruitful.

September 18th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan government is considering commuting death sentences, but such a step may not help the cause of Sarabjeet Singh, the Indian inmate who has been awarded a death sentence by a Lahore anti-terrorism court in October 1991. Interior Advisor Rehman Malik said the government has sent a draft to the law division seeking legal opinion on the proposal to commute death sentences.

September 17th, 2009 LONDON - Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari will deliver a lecture on the challenges facing Pakistan at the International Institute for Strategic Studies here Friday. Zardari is expected to highlight the current challenges facing Pakistan, the war against terrorism, as well as the financial and economic problems, among others, the Online news agency reported Thursday.

September 15th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has revealed that former President General Pervez Musharraf had stepped down from the Presidency as a part of a deal which was facilitated by 'international and local' guarantors. "All international and local powers, which have stakes in the region, were guarantors of General Pervez Musharraf's negotiated resignation," Zardari told media person during an Iftar party here.

September 10th, 2009 Report: Japan executes mentally ill prisonersTOKYO — Japan executes mentally ill prisoners, some of whom are driven insane by harsh treatment while on death row, according to a report issued Thursday by Amnesty International. Prisoners given the death penalty are kept in solitary confinement, sometimes for decades, and are not told when their sentence will be carried out until the morning of their execution, which can lead to "significant mental illness," the London-based human rights group said.

September 10th, 2009 LAHORE - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said he believes that Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden is dead. In an interview with the BBC, Zardari said: "It seems as if Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Ladin is no longer alive." Zardari reiterated that democracy was working well in Pakistan, and the government is determined to fight extremism and root out militancy from the country's soil.

September 1st, 2009 BAGHDAD - Amnesty International on Tuesday said that even though Iraq has been free from Saddam Hussein's regime for six years, more than 1,000 prisoners are still facing death penalty in the country. It said that Iraq's burdened justice system can barely cope with ordinary crimes, and punishment for crimes ranging from murder to the membership and support of armed groups are out of bounds for them.

July 19th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has vowed to transform his country into a 'great nation', saying no one will be allowed to challenge the writ of the constitution. Speaking at a dinner party that he hosted for PPP parliamentarians here, Zardari said he would achieve what other leaders before him have failed to do.

June 27th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - A former lawyer who represented Sarabjit Singh, the Indian on death row in Pakistan, has appealed to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari to either pardon him or commute his death sentence to life imprisonment. Rana Abdul Hamid said Zardari should act on the several mercy petitions that were pending before him.

June 24th, 2009 BRUSSELS - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said that India is no longer a military threat to Pakistan, rather it is the Taliban which is threatening peace in the region as well as in the whole world. Talking to a private television channel ahead of the first summit between the European Union (EU) and Pakistan here, Zardari said both India and Pakistan do not have any ill-feelings against each other, and both the countries have good intentions.

May 29th, 2009 LONDON - About 7000 prisoners have been awarded the death sentence in Pakistan, among which 36 were awarded the capital punishment last year alone, the international human rights organization, Amnesty International has said. The international organization, its annual report for the year 2009, said that a total of 236 prisoners were awarded death sentences, but only 36 of them could be actually hanged to death, The News reports.

May 7th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Concerned by reports of an imminent threat to Pakistan's nuclear arsenal from the Taliban, US Senator Richard Luger has asked President Obama to force Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari to ensure the safety of the nukes. According to The Nation, Senate foreign committee member, Luga,r urged Obama to ask Zardari to step up security for Pakistan's nuclear facilities.

May 6th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Ahead of his much awaited meeting with US President Barack Obama, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has urged the United States to provide Predator drone aircrafts to Islamabad to enable it to counter the expanding terror threat in the country more effectively. "I need drones to be part of my arsenal.