Norwegian sentenced to death in Pakistan

Attorney Morten Furuholmen.Photo: Berit Roald / NTB scanpix

Norwegian citizen sentenced to death in Pakistan

A Norwegian national was sentenced to death by two judicial authorities in Pakistan for raping and killing a little girl. The Supreme Court is his last chance for leniency.

 

The Norwegian Pakistani’s defender in Norway, lawyer Morten Furuholmen, told TV 2 that there is a real danger that his client will be executed.

The man, from Haugenstua in Oslo, was arrested in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, in 2007, charged with raping and killing a seven-year-old girl. He was sentenced to death in two courts. If the Pakistani Supreme Court agrees with the lower courts, the death sentence will be carried out in the country which has enforced more than 400 death sentence convictions over the past four years.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is following the case as closely as the criminal proceedings against Joshua French and Tjostolv Moland.

“The Congo case was treated in the same way as this before the verdict was enforceable,” said communications adviser, Ane Haavardsdatter Lunde of the UD to TV 2.

“If a Norwegian is at risk of a death penalty, it is something we are taking with the deepest seriousness, and it’s a matter we will treat as such,“ she said.

The Norwegian Pakistani first admitted guilt to the police after being arrested but withdrew the confession before the matter came to court. He has been clear in both courts that he had not done what he is accused of Morten Furuholmen emphasised.

“He was subjected to torture, blows and kicks, and he was partially misled to sign documents he did not understand the contents of. When he understood what he had signed, the confession was withdrawn” the lawyer said.

 

© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today