Timeline: Sarabjit Singh

Sarabjit Singh, an Indian Citizen, was convicted by a Pakistani court of espionage and for involvement with 1990 bomb blasts in Lahore. His family maintain he was innocent and a victim of misidentification.  Mr. Singh died Wednesday evening in hospital in Pakistan.

Timeline of the Case

Sarabjit Singh (Image from NDTV)

• Aug 1990: Sarabjit Singh, a resident of Amritsar in north India, was arrested near the Kasur border on charges of illegally crossing into Pakistan from India. Pakistan’s Police later charged him for being involved in a series of bombings in Lahore and Faisalabad that killed 14 people.
• Oct 1991: Sarabjit Singh was convicted of spying and carrying out the bombings and was sentenced to death under Pakistan’s Army Act. The sentence was upheld by a higher court.
• Aug 23, 2005: The Sarabjit's case was taken up in both the houses of the Indian Parliament, where the government was asked to take necessary action for his release
• Oct 2005: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh raised the issue with President Musharraf during their meeting in New York in 2005, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. President Musharraf assured that he would look at the question of clemency to Sarabjit Singh in a humanitarian way.
• Mar 2006: Pakistan’s Supreme Court rejected Sarabjit Singh’s appeal for mercy and upheld his death sentence.
• Mar 17, 2006: MEA had formally requested the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi to treat the matter sympathetically and to examine his mercy petition with compassion
• Mar 2008: Sarabjit Singh’s then applied for mercy plea to the then President of Pakistan Parvez Musharraf.  The renewed mercy plea was turned down by Pervez Musharraf.
• However, his execution was later delayed by the Pakistani government following the appeal from the family of Sarabjit Singh’s family and the Indian government.
• Mar 18, 2008: The then External Affairs Minister in a Suo Motu Statement in the Lok Sabha on March 18, 2008 appealed to the Government of Pakistan to treat Sarabjit Singh’s case with clemency on humanitarian grounds.
• Dec 2009: A British lawyer, Jas Uppal, launched an international campaign for Mr. Singh’s release.
• May 2012: Mr. Singh filed his fifth appeal for clemency before Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.
• June 2012: President Zardari commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment following which Pakistan authorities said they would release Mr. Singh as part of a prisoner swap with New Delhi. Later, Pakistani officials said they were releasing a different Indian man convicted in the 1980s of being an Indian spy.  The flip-flop angered India and human rights groups.
• Aug 2012: Sarabjit Singh filed a fresh appeal for mercy before Mr. Zardari.
• Apr 26, 2013: Sarabjit Singh was severely injured after allegedly being attacked with bricks by jail inmates in Pakistan. He was admitted to intensive care. His family called for his transfer to India for treatment but the Pakistan authorities refused to move him.
• May 1, 2013: Sarabjit Singh died from his injuries in a hospital in Lahore.