Amnesty International is urging India to halt this week's scheduled execution of convicted assassin Balwant Singh Rajoana, saying carrying out the death penalty would be a setback for the country.

The human rights group says it made its appeal in an open letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Amnesty officials wrote that if India hangs Rajoana, it would put it in opposition to regional and global trends towards abolishing the death penalty.

Amnesty is calling on India to place an official moratorium on capital punishment.

Rajoana was sentenced to death for the 2007 assassination of Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh. If he is put to death, it would be India's first execution in eight years.