Pakistan death row: reform needed after execution halted

Pakistan's government has halted the execution of a man sentenced to death by an anti-terrorism court.

Rights groups said that Shafqat Hussain, who was charged with involuntary manslaughter in 2004 when he was 14 years old, was tortured into a confession.

Pakistan's Interior Minister Chaudry Nisar announced the stay of execution on Monday and said a team would investigate the case.

Maya Foa, the director of the death penalty team at Reprieve, told Today: "This inquiry is very welcome ...but there needs to be an examination of the entire death row."

"We need to know how many juveniles were sentenced to death."

"This is a violation of international law and Pakistan subscribes to those laws."

"We need to have a halt on all these executions until we can say definitively that we're getting the right people."

First broadcast Today programme 6 January 2015.