Islamabad, June 24: Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a review petition filed by Indian national Sarabjit Singh and upheld the death sentence given to him for his alleged involvement in bomb attacks in 1990.
A three-member bench led by Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed dismissed Sarabjit’s review petition on merit and upheld the death sentence awarded to him by an anti-terrorism court in 1991. The apex court gave its verdict after his counsel failed to appear in court.
Sarabjit’s counsel had failed to appear in court for the past few hearings, including the last one on Monday. Rana Abdul Hamid, the lawyer who was representing Sarabjit, had been unable to appear in court after he was last year appointed an additional advocate general by Punjab province.
Sarabjit has been on death row since he was convicted for alleged involvement in four bomb blasts in 1990 that killed 14 people.
Sarabjit was set to be hanged on April one last year though Pakistani authorities put off his execution indefinitely after Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani intervened in the matter.
Following an appeal by Sarabjit, the Lahore High Court had upheld his death sentence in 2003. The apex court too had upheld his death sentence in August 2005. Former President Pervez Musharraf dismissed Sarabjit’s mercy petition last year.
Sarabjit’s execution was initially deferred for 30 days by Musharraf last year. This was done so that the Pakistan People’s Party-led government, which had just assumed power at the time, could review his case following India’s appeal for clemency.
In October last year, then Law Minister Farooq Naek met Sarabjit at Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore to examine his case so that President Asif Ali Zardari could decide whether to pardon him. There has been no movement in this matter since then.
Naek, who is now Chairman of the Senate or upper house of parliament, had pointed out that only the President had the powers to pardon or remit Sarabjit’s sentence as his mercy petition had been dismissed by the Supreme Court.
-Agencies