Pakistan court asked to end death penalty

Pakistan's Supreme Court was asked Monday to declare the death penalty unconstitutional, a ruling that would free 8,000 people awaiting execution. A petition requesting the abolition of the death penalty was filed by an attorney identified only as Zafarullah, Dawn News reported. The lawyer asked the court to act on a petition he filed in July 2011 in which he argued that because of the high levels of corruption in Pakistan society, the chances were high that many innocent people had been declared guilty. He said all depth sentences should be commuted to life in prison. Under the constitution, Zafarullah contended, the right to life was a natural right guaranteed by the constitution and that the unnatural ending of life was inconsistent with that right.