According to police reports, Pakistani serial killer Imran Ali was executed Wednesday, after being convicted, in January, for the rape and murder of a six-year-old Zainab Ansari.
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Ali was hanged, at the Lahore's Kot Lakhpat prison, after several failed appeals. President Arif Alvi rejected a plea for clemency. The execution of the 24-year-old took place in the presence of several members of the victim’s family.
"I have seen his awe-inspiring end with my own eyes. They dropped him on the gallows, and let his body hang for half an hour," Amin Ansari, the father of the deceased, told reporters. A request, by Zainab's father, for a public hanging was dismissed but the elder Ansari thanked the judiciary, government and investigators after Ali’s hanging.
The body of Zainab Ansari - who had been missing for five days - was discovered after CCTV footage documenting the six-year-old being led away by a man, was unearthed and circulated on social media by relatives. The video prompted the viral hashtag #JusticeForZainab.
On January 4, Ali was held when positive DNA matching linked him to the crime. Ali was sentenced to death, in February, for the murder of Zainab, as well as convicted for crimes against at least half-a-dozen other girls.
The case was among a series of child murders, in the city of Kasur, that have sparked protests across the country.