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Journalism of Courage
Indian national Sarabajit Singh,currently on death row in a Pakistani prison following his conviction for alleged involvement in bomb attacks,was not even named in the First Information Report that led to his sentence,his lawyer said on Thursday.
“The FIR was registered against someone named Manjit Singh,” Awais Sheikh,the counsel for Sarabajit said.
Sheikh said his efforts to save his client are based on the name given in the FIR registered against Sarabajit for carrying out bomb attacks in Pakistan.
“I have pointed out that my client is not mentioned in the FIR. Owing to a communication gap between India and Pakistan,it is impossible to overcome this misunderstanding over names,” he said.
The lawyer said Sarabjit could not be hanged on that basis of the FIR.
He also said that many people in India considered Sarabjit innocent and he had gathered proof in this regard during a recent visit to the neighbouring country.
Sheikh also appealed to Pakistan’s President and Supreme Court Chief Justice to convert Sarabjit’s death sentence to life imprisonment.
Pakistani authorities indefinitely put off Sarabjit’s hanging following the intervention of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in 2008.
Officials have said only President Asif Ali Zardari can decide on granting clemency to Sarabjit,currently being held in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail.
Sarabjit was convicted for allegedly carrying out bomb attacks in Punjab province in 1990 that killed 14 people.
His family says he mistakenly crossed the India-Pakistan border in an inebriated condition and was wrongly accused of being involved in the attacks.
