The death sentence given to ten young Indian men accused of murdering a Pakistani man has been escaped and settled for prison terms.
The Al Ain Court of Appeals sentenced two of the men to three-and-a-half years in jail and three others to three-year jail terms. Two others will now have to serve one-and-a-half years in prison. Three persons will be jailed one year each.
Dinesh Kumar, first secretary for community affairs at the Indian Embassy, told Gulf News that the verdict is a relief to the accused, who have been in jail since July 2015 and were sentenced to death in October 2016.
“We are grateful to the courts for this decision, and to the victim’s family, who agreed to pardon these young men. What happened is indeed unfortunate, but these men hail from poor families that need their support,” he said.
An Indian charity organisation, Sarbat Da Bhala Charitable Trust, has already deposited the blood money in court on behalf of the accused.
The Indian Embassy will soon issue air tickets and out passes for the men who have finished serving their one- and one-and-a-half-year sentences.
The convicted men worked in Al Ain as plumbers, electricians, carpenters and masons. Most of them are in their early twenties.
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