Lahore, Feb. 28 (ANI): The lawyer for Sarabjit Singh- the Indian prisoner lodged in a Pakistan jail- is set to launch a book on Friday explaining why he believes Singh”s conviction and imprisonment is “an extraordinary miscarriage of justice”. In his book ”Sarabjit Singh- A Case of Mistaken Identity”, advocate Awais Sheikh states that Sarabjit has been a victim of unfair conviction that has caused him to be in prison for his entire adult life, reports The Express Tribune. Singh was sentenced to death in 1990 after being convicted of carrying out bomb blasts in Lahore and Faisalabad that killed 14 people. The 199-page book, which will be launched at the Lahore Press Club, seeks to detail various flaws in the investigation, trial and appeals in the case and includes letters written by Singh to his family in India and to himself in prison, as well as to the Indian and Pakistani governments asking for his release. In his book, Sheikh writes that Singh did not get due process, that fundamental legal issues were not addressed, and that the investigation agency introduced false witnesses. In one of his letters, Singh wrote that after being arrested, he was produced before a Major Ghulam Abbas, who called him ”Manjit Singh”. Singh alleged that he was beaten up when he refused to be called by that name. Sheikh stated that when Singh was produced before a magistrate by a Military Intelligence officer on September 8, 1990, the magistrate proceeded with the case of Manjit Singh and did not listen to Sarabjit, who repeatedly said that he was not Manjit Singh. He did not bother to confirm and verify the name of the accused produced in his court, he added. Sheikh writes that Singh”s supposed confession, which was the basis for his conviction, did not carry his signature or thumb print. The sole witness in the case, Shaukat Ali, had stated that he had been forced to testify against Singh, Sheikh wrote. (ANI)
