Appeal filed against capital punishment to 17 Indians

DUBAI: An appeal has been filed on behalf of 17 Indians, who were recently sentenced to death by a Sharjah court for killing a Pakistani national and injuring three of his compatriots, an Indian official said.

The appeal was filed yesterday in a Sharjah Court of Appeals, India's Consul-General Sanjay Verma said.

The Consulate had earlier said that they have hired a Dubai-based law firm, Mohamed Salman Advocates and Legal Consultants, to represent the Indians.

Earlier a lawyer, Bindu Suresh Chettur, who met the convicts on behalf of the law firm, said the men maintained their innocence.

"I visited all of them at the jail and they signed the papers," he said.

Consulate officials had met all 17 Indians earlier this week and said that they were in good health.

The convicted, 16 from the Punjab and one from Haryana, were recently found guilty by the Sharjah Shariah Court of killing a Pakistani national and injuring three of his compatriots allegedly during a clash over an illegal alcohol business in January 2009.

About 50 people were involved in the attack, in which the Pakistani man was beaten to death with metal bars. While others were let off due to lack of evidence, the men on death row are accused of being the gang leaders.