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Pakistan commutes death penalty of Indian prisoner

26 June 2012 19:15 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Death penalty of an Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh, convicted for alleged involvement in bomb attacks in 1990 in Pakistan, has been commuted to life imprisonment, paving the way for his release, reported local media on Tuesday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Singh, 49-old Indian, has already spent nearly 12 years at a jail in the Pakistani city of Lahore. He could be freed and deported to India any time, said local TV channel Dunya.

Pakistani media reported that the country’s Law Minister Farooq H Naek has signed commotion orders for Sarabjit Singh. The summary has been sent to the Interior Ministry for the possible release of the Indian national.

The Indian national had filed several mercy petitions to President Asif Ali Zardari.

Sarabjit’s fresh petition, which includes a document with the signatures of 100,000 Indians, urges Zardari to reciprocate the recent release of Pakistani Khalil Chishti by India.

Chishti, who was convicted of involvement in the murder of a man in Ajmer in 1992, was freed last year on bail by India’s Supreme Court.

The court subsequently allowed him to visit Pakistan to meet his family.

Sarabjit’s family has expressed happiness over the Pakistani government’s decision to free Sarabjit Singh, according to local media reports.