Govt assures legal assistance for 17 Indians on death row in UAE - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur on Sunday said that the Union Government would provide legal assistance to the 17 Indians, sentenced to death by a United Arab Emirates (UAE) court on charges of murdering a Pakistani national. Ms. Kaur today met the kin of the 17 Indians in Patiala and assured them that the Union Government has sought the best legal aid assistance in the UAE. “I'm happy to say that we have engaged the best lawyer there. And by the end of the week we will file an appeal, which was their demand. Our counselor has met them and one of the senior counselors from consulate is interacting with them. We will try to provide as much help as possible,” Kaur said. The family members of the persons on death row had sought the Union Government’s assistance, and said that its intervention would help get the 17 people back to India . “Our request to the government is to bring back our boys, for that purpose we have met her. She (Preneet Kaur) has assured us that they will file a plea and bring back the boys,” said Kamlesh, mother of an accused. The 17 people have been sentenced to death for killing a Pakistani man over an illegal alcohol business dispute in Sharjah in January 2009. According to reports, about 50 people were involved in the fatal attack in which the Pakistani man was beaten to death with metal bars, but those sentenced to death, were found to have been the leaders. Three other Pakistani nationals were also injured in the attack, but they survived. This is the highest number of death sentence handed down at one time in the UAE.