Commute Sarabjit's sentence to win Indian hearts: Lawyer

Pleading clemency for Sarabjit Singh, facing death sentence for alleged involvement in bomb blasts in Pakistan, his lawyer has said commuting his sentence to life imprisonment would be a good gesture which will win hearts of a billion Indians.

Awais Sheikh, who took up Sarabjit's case in June last year, has filed a mercy petition, and also written a letter signed by thousands of Indians to Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari pleading for the release of his client or at least commuting it to life imprisonment.

"In the letter, I have referred to the president (Asif Ali Zardari) that Sarabjit's case is now linked with India and Pakistan relations. He be either set free or his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment. (By doing it) You will win the hearts of over one billion Indians," Sheikh, who was recently on a visit to India, told PTI here.

Sarabjit was convicted of alleged involvement in bomb blasts in Punjab province in 1990. Though he was to be hanged on April 1 last year, the execution was put off indefinitely following Pakistani prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's intervention.

The lawyer, who wants the two neighbours to abolish death penalty and also release the citizens of each other's country languishing in jails, said the decision of the Lahore high court to allow him to meet Sarabjit about two months ago was a "good development" as far as the case was concerned.