UAE COURT PARDONS 10 PUNJABIS ON DEATH ROW

March 23, 2017:

Ten Punjabi men have escaped the death sentence in the United Arab Emirates after the father of the Pakistani man they had accidentally killed submitted a letter of pardon in court. The letter was given after the NGO Sarbat Da Bhalla Charitable Trust, run by NRI businessman S P S Oberoi, paid blood money of Rs 60 lakh in Pakistani currency to have the men released.
The youths, who escaped the gallows, include Satminder Singh of Barnala, Chander Shekhar of Nawasher, Chamkaur Singh of Maler kotla, Kulwinder Singh, Balwinder Kumar and Dharamvir Singh of Ludhiana, Harjinder Singh of Mohali, Tarsem Singh of Amritsar, Gurpreet Singh of Patiala and Jagjit Singh of Gurdaspur.
The men were accused of killing Pakistani national Mohamaad Faran in July 2015 during a fight over bootlegging.
Initially, 11men were arrested, but later only 10 were found guilty. The NGO traced Faran's family members in Peshawar and persuaded them to accept the blood money under Islamic law.
The Al-Ain court had on October 26 last year convicted the men of murder. On December 28 2016, Oberoi's NGO moved an appeal to spare the men by offering blood money.