Jan
19
Indian Court Suspends Executions
January 19, 2004 | Comments Off on Indian Court Suspends Executions
The Indian Supreme Court halted the executions of two men convicted of planning the December 2001 attack against the Indian parliament. These death sentences were the first convictions under the controversial and draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA):
[Mohammad] Afzal and [Shaukat Hussain] Guru have already lost an appeal against their sentence in a lower court and the Supreme Court is their last chance to seek to have it overturned.
If that fails they can appeal for clemency to the Indian president.
Two other accused, college professor Syed Abdul Rahman Geelani, and Guru’s wife Afsan, were acquitted earlier, after spending two years in prison, on the grounds of insufficient evidence. The police have appealed their acquittal.
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