Counsel appeals for presidential pardon for Sarabjeet Singh

Counsel for Indian convicted terrorist Sarabjeet Singh, Advocate Awais Sheikh has demanded that the death sentence of his client be commuted to a life-term imprisonment.

Addressing an unusual press conference, the lawyer claimed that there were many flaws in Singh’s trial which the court had overlooked while deciding his appeals against the death sentence.

Sheikh lamented that his client his client was not given the benefit of doubt despite the presence of numerous flaws. He explained his argument, saying that the case of his client was one of mistaken identity.

He informed the media that he had even presented the intelligence officials before the courts under the alias Manjeet Singh, who was originally accused for the terrorist activities.

In what appeared to be a shocking claim, he said that his client had never been brought before a magistrate and have never confessed his crime before any court of law or any investigation department.

The lawyer said, “My client had been made to confess his crime before a television camera which has no legal value. A confessional document had not been signed by Singh, rather carried fake signatures”.

He added that his client, Sarabjeet Singh had denied all charges leveled against him by a prosecution.

He noted, “The belief that Singh had been prepared and trained by RAW for conducting terror activities in Pakistan, was unfounded”.

The counsel for Sarabjeet Singh denied all the charges including that his client was given training for posing as Muslim, for preparing bombs, planting explosives or holding a Pakistani national identity card.

He claimed that the said ID card had been secretly prepared by Major Abbas, a prosecution witness in the case.

Rebuffing the charges that Sarabjeet Singh had placed an explosive-laden-bag on a bus at the Lahore Railway Station, Awais Sheikh said his client had crossed the Indian border on August 29, 1990 with the intent to smuggle liquor.

The lawyer also said that his client had only been apprehended with $800 and two bottles of liquor, rejecting the claims that fake identification cards had been recovered from his possession.

The legal expert also claimed that the Supreme Court had treated his client discriminately, rejecting the application as ex-parte. He urged the civil society and media to make efforts to release prisoners who are languishing each others’ jails.

plunked

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Jul 7 2012. Filed under Pakistan, Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.