LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A serial killer of eight children has been executed at a Pakistani prison after the country's top court rejected request for his public hanging.

Mohammad Imran was hanged Wednesday morning in the eastern city of Lahore in the presence of the father of 7-year-old Zainab Ansari whose rape and murder shocked Pakistan in January. Imran was arrested two weeks after he threw Zainab's body into a garbage dump in the city of Kasur in Punjab province. After his arrest, Imran confessed to the other slayings and was convicted.

Zainab's father Mohammed Amin Ansari after witnessing the execution thanked the judiciary, government and investigators for giving them speedy justice.