DTN News: India TODAY June 26, 2009 - Sarabjit Singh Held In Pakistan Jail For Past 18 Years, As A Political Pawn

DTN News: India TODAY June 26, 2009 - Sarabjit Singh Held In Pakistan Jail For Past 18 Years, As A Political Pawn

*Sources: DTN News / Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) NEW DELHI, India - June 26, 2009: Indian national Sarabjit Singh, awarded capital punishment in Pakistan, has been shifted from death row to a normal cell in a Lahore jail, raising hopes that he might not be executed.

Family members of Sarabjit Singh hold his picture to appeal for his release during a demonstration in the northern Indian city of Amritsar June 25, 2009. Pakistan's Supreme Court dismissed on Wednesday an appeal by Singh, an Indian man seeking a review of a death sentence imposed on him 18 years ago for spying and carrying out bombings.

Pakistani TV channel Geo news reported that the move may be an indication that the Sarabjit, convicted for triggering blasts killing 14 people in Pakistan in 1990, would not be hanged. However, there was no official word in this regard so far. Sarabjit, whom Pakistani authorities call Manjit Singh, has been on death row since he was convicted for alleged involvement in four bomb attacks in Punjab province in 1990. Sarabjit’s family, which visited Pakistan in 2008 seeking his release, insists that he was wrongly convicted for the attacks.