Afzal's wife to appeal to President for mercy

The wife of Jaish-e-Mohammed militant Mohammed Afzal, who is set to be hanged on October 20 for his role in the 2001 attack on Parliament, will appeal to President A P J Abdul Kalam to pardon him and persuade her husband to file a mercy plea.

A day after a Delhi court fixed the date for his execution, Tabasum Guru said, "We will go to him (President) on behalf of our children and his (Afzal's) mother and make an appeal for mercy. We are hopeful that he will hear our appeal."

She said Afzal told her that he would prefer to go to the gallows rather than appeal against the sentence.

"He (Afzal) has lost faith in the judiciary and is unwilling to file an appeal before the President," Tabasum, a nurse by profession, told reporters who visited her house at Doubgah village in Sopore, 55 km from Srinagar.

However, Tabasum said she along with her father Ghulam Mohammed and 9-year-old son Galib Afzal, were leaving for Delhi on Thursday to persuade Afzal to file a mercy plea before President A P J Abdul Kalam.

"I will try to motivate him... we need him," she said.

A court order to hang Afzal on October 20 came four years after it sentenced him to death in the Parliament attack case.

The conviction was confirmed by the Delhi high court and later by the Supreme Court.

With prayers for her husband on her lips, Tabasum said she along with her father and son met him last in Tihar jail on August 12.

"My husband is innocent and implicated deliberately in the case. We want him (Afzal) back with us," a visibly disturbed Tabasum said.