Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah, who is opposed to the execution of Mohammed Afzal, has said the death punishment for the Parliament terror attack convict is "too extreme" and fears for the life of the judges who have sentenced him.

Abdullah initially told Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN's 'Devil's Advocate' programme that Afzal was innocent, but later said the sentence was "too harsh".

"You want to hang him? Go ahead and hang him. But the consequences of hanging him must also be remembered. One of the consequences will be... we have paid the price of MaqboolButt's hanging. The judge was shot in Kashmir. Those judges will need to be protected," he said.

He referred to the gunning down of Neelkanth Ganju, who as the sessions judge in Kashmir had handed down capital punishment to Butt in the early 80s.