"Many of the prisoners likely to be executed in Pakistan, as the country resumes executions were convicted of crimes that bear no relation to a terrorism threat, Reprieve has said," the statement published on Reprieve's website said.
On Wednesday, governmental spokesperson Mohiuddin Wan stated that Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif approved the lifting of ban on death penalty, following the Tuesday terrorist attack by the Taliban on a Pakistani school.
Reprieve said that a 15-year-old boy from whom an admission of guilt was taken by means of torture is similarly likely to face death penalty.
"Our research suggests that many of the individuals, who would be first in line for execution are simply not terrorists, and that the law is being abused in a way that perverts justice and fails to keep anyone safe," Maya Foa, head of Reprieve's death penalty team, was quoted as saying in the same statement.
Foa added that countries that have close ties with Pakistan, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, should take immediate action to help ban the move.
The statement also added that almost 40 percent of prisoners in the Pakistani province of Sindh have been rendered terrorists in courtrooms even though their individual cases do not constitute acts of terrorism. Currently, more than 8,000 people are expecting death penalty, according to the statement.
