Prison authorities in Pakistan were on Friday preparing to hang convicted terrorists after the government lifted a six-year moratorium on executions, officials said. The decision followed the massacre of 135 school children and 12 others by Taliban gunmen at an army-run school in the north-western city of Peshawar. At least 17 militants convicted by military or anti-terrorism courts for bombings and mass killings would be executed in jails in Rawalpindi, Lahore and Faisalabad in the coming week, prison officials said. Pakistan had adopted an undeclared moratorium on carrying out death sentences from 2008 to win a trade deal with the European Union. Trade Minister Khurram Dastgeer Khan told dpa Wednesday's decision to lift the ban would not endanger the deal with the 27-nation bloc. -- SPA 13:39 LOCAL TIME 10:39 GMT تغريد
