Execution delayed for fourth time

A Pakistani man who claimed he was a child when he was charged with murder and only confessed after being tortured was handed a reprieve on Tuesday just hours before he was to be executed. It was the fourth time the execution had been stayed.

Shafqat Hussain, whose age is disputed, was to be hanged in the southern port city of Karachi.

Justice Project Pakistan, a human rights law firm representing Hussain, said the Supreme Court in Islamabad would hear its appeal of an earlier court decision that rejected an inquiry into the case. The court set the hearing for Wednesday.