Pak death row inmate Sarabjit Singh gets a new lawyer

Lahore, June 27 (ANI): Indian national Sarabjit Singh, who has been on death row in Pakistan since 1991 for his alleged involvement in bomb attacks in 1990, has been given a new lawyer to represent him.

Lawyer Owif Sheikh will now fight Sarabjit's case and will be filing an appeal to the court.

This move comes after Sarabjit's lawyer Rana Abdul Hamid failed to appear for Sarabjit's hearing on June 24.

Sheikh is expected to file an appeal on the grounds that the previous lawyer was not present at the time of the court's decision to reject Sarabjit's appeal. Sheikh will also request the government to abolish the death penalty on humanitarian grounds.

Sarabjit has been on death row since he was convicted for alleged involvement in four bomb blasts in 1990 that killed 14 people.

He was to be hanged on April one last year, but authorities in Pakistan put off his execution indefinitely after Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani intervened in the matter. (ANI)