Pak to review Sarabjit's case
06th October 2008
Pakistani Law Minister Farooq Naek on Monday met Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh at the Lahore's Kot Lakhpath Jail to review him.
Naek said that he has asked for Sarabjit's file from the jail superintendent and added that he would study his case and then give recommendations.
Sarabjit, 42, has been on death row since he was convicted for alleged involvement in four bomb attacks that killed 14 people in Punjab province in 1990. His family insists that he was wrongly convicted for the bombings.
Naek had earlier said a final decision on pardoning Singh would be made by President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
Sarabjit was originally to be hanged on April 1 but his execution was deferred for 30 days by the then President Pervez Musharraf. This was done so that the new Pakistan People's Party-led government could review his case following India's appeal for clemency.
Pakistan's Supreme Court had earlier turned down Sarabjit's mercy petition.
After Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani intervened in the matter, Pakistani authorities put off Sarabjit's execution "till further orders".
Gilani announced a proposal to commute the death sentences of thousands of prisoners into life imprisonment on June 21 to mark the birth anniversary of slain PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto but it is still not clear if the move would benefit Sarabjit.
Source: Times of India