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Sarabjit Singh


Sarabjit Singh is an Indian national imprisoned in Kot Lakhpat jail, Pakistan since 1990. He was convicted by the Pakistani authorities for his involvement in 1990 serial bomb blasts in Lahore and Faisalabad that killed 14 people. Sarabjit claimed that he was a farmer and a victim of mistaken identity, who strayed into Pakistan from his village located on the border, three months after the bombings. But he accepted his crimes later on.[1][2]
He was sentenced to death in 1991, but his hanging has been repeatedly postponed. So far five mercy petitions have been filed on his behalf, in which Sarabjit maintains that he has served twenty two years of prison term for a crime he is guilty of. On 26 June 2012, it was reported that Pakistan's President had ordered his release after the petition was filed on 28 May 2012.[3] 5 hours later this pardon was revoked and it was claimed that another prisoner Surjeet Singh was released not Sarabjit.[4][5]


Background and family

Sarabjit is from Bhikhiwind, located along the Indo-Pakistani border in Tarn Taran district of Punjab, India.[6] Sarabjit is married to Sukhpreet Kaur and has two daughters Swapandeep and Poonam Kaur. His sister Dalbir Kaur is working for his release.[7]

  Arrest and prosecution

On the night of 28 August 1990, Sarabjit was arrested by Pakistani border guards in an inebriated state on the Indo-Pakistani border near Kasur. Sarabjit and his supporters maintain that the arrest was a case of mistaken identity. And that he was only a poor farmer who was drunk and had strayed off the border.[7] His wife Sukhpreet Kaur claims that he left to plough his fields near Wagah Border on August 28, 1990, but never returned[citation needed]. She said the family launched a search but could not find any clue to his whereabouts for nine months. Finally they received a letter from Sarabjit informing them that he was caught by Pakistani border forces when he mistakenly crossed the border under the influence of liquor.
He was arrested on the charges of illegally crossing the India-Pakistan border. But after eight days, Pakistani police charged him with being involved in the terrorist blasts in Faislabad and Lahore in 1990.[8] The authorities alleged he was Manjit Singh and was responsible for the 4 blasts which killed 14 people.[1][9] It was also alleged he was arrested while returning back into India after carrying out the bombings.[10] He is accused of working for Indian intelligence and was viewed as a terrorist in Pakistan.[11] He was convicted of spying and carrying the bomb blasts and was handed death penalty.[7]

  Death sentence

In 1991 Sarabjit was given death sentence under the Pakistan's Army Act.[3] His sentence was upheld by the High Court and later by the Pakistan Supreme Court. The Supreme Court dismissed his petition to review his death sentence in March 2006 as Sarabjit's lawyers at the time failed to appear for the hearing.[9] Sarabjit said that his appeal had been dismissed by the Pakistan Supreme Court for non-prosecution only because of lack of interest by his former lawyer.[12]
On 3 March 2008, the erstwhile President Pervez Musharraf rejected his mercy petition.[2]

  Issues with prosecution

  • In 26 April 2008, the key witness Shaukat Salim caught on tape retracted his statement. Salim's father and other relatives had been killed in the attack. In court Salim had provided testimony that Sarabjit was the one who had planted the bomb but later on accepted that he had done so under pressure from the Pakistani police.[8] However Sarabjit's lawyer Abdul Rana Hamid told Indian News Channel CNN-IBN that Salim's statements have no legal standing as they were never recorded in court.
  • Pakistani human rights activist Ansar Burney had claimed that none of the four FIRs lodged in regard to the bombings contained Sarabjit’s name or his description. Sarabjit was arrested on the night of 30 August 1990, at Kasur Border for illegally crossing the India-Pakistani border. But after eight days, the police implicated him in the terrorist bombings. He had not been arrested red handed.[8] Burney also pointed out that a single magistrate had recorded the statements of the witnesses in all the four cases, one in Faislabad and three in Lahore. In spite of fact that the cases were lodged in four different police stations and two different districts. He said four different magistrates should have recorded the statements. None of the statements recorded in front of the magistrate was taken under oath. Sarabjit was also not been presented in an identity parade in front of a magistrate. Rather he was brought in front of witnesses, in the absence of a magistrate, and the police informed the witnesses that he was the culprit. This was also said by Shaukat Salim, a key witness of the case.[8]
A British lawyer Jas Uppal who is campaigning for his release pointed[9] to several loopholes in the trial.[13] According to her
  • His identity was never verified or proved in court and no forensic evidence was provided at his trial to link him to the bomb attacks.
  • The trial was conducted in English - Mr Singh does not speak or understand English - and an interpreter was not provided.
  • There are other serious questions over the fairness of his trial, including allegations that he was tortured in custody and forced to confess"
  • The trial was fast tracked and the main witness has repeatedly changed his version of events.

  Mercy petitions

Since his conviction in 1991, several mercy petitions have been filed by Sarabjit's legal representatives
  1. Fifth petition filed on 28 May 2012, along with 100,000 signatures collected from India. Urges Pakistan to reciprocate the Indian decision to release Pakistani octogenarian virologist Dr. Khaleel Chisty on humanitarian grounds.[14]

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