73-year-old leader of the Bangladesh's largest Islamist party had refused to seek presidential clemency.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought to know the Centre's stand on a plea for direction to it to take steps for release and repatriation of Indian death row convict Sarabjit Singh languishing in a Pakistani jail for the last 21 years for his alleged role in a terror act there.
The hearing in the open court assumes importance in view of the January 21 judgement of three-judge bench holding that inordinate and inexplicable delay by government in deciding mercy plea of death row convicts can be a ground for commuting their sentence.
Pakistani authorities enhanced security for Asia Bibi, the Christian woman who triggered a blasphemy furore in the country and in whose defence Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer lost his life, following reports of a threat to her life. The government of Punjab government beefed up security for 45-year-old Asia Bibi in Sheikhupura jail, where she is currently on death row, officials said.
A Delhi court on Friday issued fresh death warrants for February 1, 6 am against the four convicts. Earlier in the day, President Ram Nath Kovind had rejected Mukesh's mercy plea.
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition seeking abolition of the death penalty saying that the "right to life and liberty is not absolute" in the constitution.
The MEA asserted Pakistan's efforts to link peace deal with Kashmir issue have not worked.
Kulbhushan Jadhav's wife and mother will arrive in Islamabad on Monday to meet the Indian prisoner on death row, the Pakistan foreign office has said. They will arrive in Islamabad by a commercial flight and leave the same day after the meeting, it added.
Giving a ray of hope to the family of Sarabjit Singh, who is on death row in Pakistan, his lawyer on Monday said there is fresh evidence to prove his innocence in 1990 Lahore and Multan blasts case and he has filed a fresh mercy petition.
In his petition to the Supreme Court, Yakub had stated that he had been in jail for more than 20 years, which is more than the jail term awarded for life imprisonment, which is 14 years.
With BJP president Nitin Gadkari refusing to take back his Afzal Guru 'son-in-law of Congress' remark, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said some decency was expected in comments by political leaders.
President Pratibha Patil has commuted to life imprisonment the death sentence given to eight murder convicts in two separate cases.
A 3-judge bench would hear the plea, that has questioned
Katju said after carefully studying the judgment of the court he finds that the evidence on which Memon has been found guilty is "very weak".
Bangladesh on Thursday hanged the five ex-Army officers, convicted for assassinating the country's founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, almost three decades after he was killed in a military coup.
Parliament attack death row convict Afzal Guru has approached the Delhi government seeking his transfer from the Tihar jail in New Delhi to a prison in his home state of Jammu and Kashmir.
With questions being raised over the delay in clearing the mercy petition file of death row convict Afzal Guru, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Monday said it took longer time to take a decision on the issue because of its sensitive nature.
Pakistan has repeatedly denied India consular access to Jadhav on the ground that it was not applicable in cases related to spies.
Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana on Thursday refused to grant any relief to Akshay Kumar, Pawan Gupta, Vinay Sharma and Mukesh Singh and rejected the petition saying no valid ground has been brought to his notice to justify the stay of execution of death warrants scheduled on March 20 at 5:30 am.
The Congress on Friday slammed Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari over his comments about Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, saying he had 'lost it'. "This is a very disgraceful statement. The country will decide whether such language will be used in polity. Coming from the president of a national party, it is unfortunate and nobody had thought about such degradation of public life," said Manish Tiwari.
Sarabjit Singh's family appeals for his release.
Indian death row prisoner Sarabjit Singh's counsel on Saturday appealed to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari to either pardon him or commute his death sentence to life imprisonment, three days after the Supreme court dismissed his appeal against the capital punishment.
His second term as solicitor general was renewed recently.
The Delhi government has decided to refer to the Union home ministry a decision on the execution of death row convict Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar following a medical board report that he is under severe mental depression.
The family of Sarabjit Singh, who is on death row and lodged in a Pakistani jail since 1991, will move the International Court of Justice for his release.
A curative petition is the last and final judicial remedy available to a person convicted by courts of law.
Over 100,000 Indians, including former test cricketers and chief justices, have signed a mercy petition addressed to Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari seeking clemency for Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh, who is on death row in a Pakistani prison.
Family members of Sarabjit Singh, an Indian national on death row in a Pakistani prison, on Saturday met Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray. Sarabjit's sister Dalbir Kaur, her husband Baldev Singh and Sarabjit's daughter Swapandeep Kaur met Raj at his residence in central Mumbai.Describing their plight to Raj, Dalbir alleged that the government was not making the required efforts to seek Sarabjit's release.
Convinced that death row convict Sarabjeet Singh is "innocent" and deserved to be released, former Pakistani Minister and noted human rights activist Ansar Burney on Friday demanded that India also consider release of all Pakistanis who had completed their jail terms as a reciprocative gesture.
Here is the chronology of events in the Nirbhaya case.
The family was shocked to know that their advocate Rana Abdul Hamid, whom they had trusted like a messiah for Sarabjit's release, backstabbed them by "deliberately avoiding to appear" in the Supreme Court.
Earlier, Sarabjit's lawyer, Awais Sheikh, had stated in the court that he was not allowed to meet his client despite court orders. He had also filed a petition against the interior secretary of Punjab and superintendent of Kot Lakhpat jail.
While Pakistan termed its decision to allow Jadhav's family to travel to Pakistan to meet him as humanitarian gesture, India has accused it of violating mutual understandings.
Pakistan hanged four convicts on Wedesnday, 59 executed since death penalty revival.
A fresh application has been filed before the Pakistan Supreme Court seeking review of its decision to dismiss the Indian death row inmate Sarabjit Singh's petition challenging his death penalty, The Daily Times reports.
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Monday adjourned till Wednesday the hearing of a review petition challenging the death sentence given to Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh for his alleged involvement in the bomb blasts.
Parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru cannot be hanged till other mercy petitions pending before his are disposed of, feels the government.
The convicts, who did not seek any further action after the Supreme Court dismissed their appeals challenging their death penalty and review pleas of three of them in May 2017 and July 2018, vigorously started pursuing the legal remedies left to them from January 7 onwards as a trial court had fixed January 20 for their hanging.
The bench said all relevant material including judgments pronounced by trial court, high court and Supreme Court were placed before the President when he was considering the mercy plea of convict Mukesh Kumar Singh.
Indian national Sarabjit Singh, on death row in a Pakistani jail, is unlikely to benefit from the government's proposal to commute all death sentences to life imprisonment as he was convicted for a terrorist act.Only those who were not involved in crimes like terrorism, bombings and spreading sectarian hatred could benefit from Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's recent announcement about asking President Pervez Musharraf to commute death sentences to life imprisonment.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances