By IANS,
Chandigarh: The family members of 17 Indian youths on the death row in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are quite optimistic about the appeal against their conviction and sentence, slated for hearing Wednesday, and praying for a favourable outcome.
“After the intervention of the Indian consulate and various NGOs, we have started getting calls from them every Sunday. I had talked to my brother yesterday (Sunday) and he said that they were expecting some leniency from the court as police had failed to collect any substantial proof against them,” Jhony Singh, brother of 27-year-old Navjot Singh, who is lodged in Sharjah jail, told IANS.
“My family members are organising special prayers everyday at home, hoping that the court would free them from the jail. Navjot told us over the phone that he did not even know about the case in which they were falsely implicated.”
A total of 17 Indians, 16 from Punjab and one from Haryana, were sentenced to death by a court in Sharjah March 2010 for allegedly killing a Pakistani man and injuring three others in January 2009 following a fight over illegal liquor business. The murder took place in Al Sajaa area of Sharjah.
Pyare Lal, father of another Indian Subhan, 25, told IANS: “We are getting a call from Subhan every Sunday. Most of the times he is very dejected and is uncertain about the possibility of fair trial. But we are very optimistic and we have full belief in God that our son will reach home safely.”
All the convicted men in UAE are between 17 and 30 years of age and all of them belong to lower middle-class families. The Indian consulate has hired a UAE law firm to represent them.
During the last few weeks, representatives of a Punjab-based NGO Lawyers For Human Rights International (LFHRI) and Rajya Sabha MP and former union minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa had also gone to UAE to meet the Indians on the death row and assured them of full support.
“We cannot predict the outcome of court’s hearing at this point of time as it can also stretch to further hearings. But we are keeping our fingers crossed and hope for the best,” said Sher Singh, whose nephew Sukhjinder Singh is one of the 17.