Yesterday Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled that secret courts deciding the fates of civilians were legal. The secret courts, or tribunals, have been busy passing death sentences since a law was lifted in December that banned capital punishment in Pakistan. (The law was lifted to allow the execution of a Taliban militant who killed 150 people, mostly children, in a school.)
That horrible crime — and its punishment — has spurred a rash of executions in Pakistan, a country whose legal system is allegedly rife with corruption. Human rights activists believe that in many cases the government’s political enemies are being executed in the name of fighting terror. Though the exact number isn’t known due to the secrecy of the tribunals, in the seven months since the ban has been lifted it’s believed more than 200 Pakistani citizens have been executed. It’s about one every day. In 2015, the United States has executed 18 people.
