Appeal filed against death sentence to 17 Indians

Dubai: An appeal was on Thursday filed on behalf of the 17 Indians who were recently found guilty by a Sharjah court of killing a Pakistani national and injuring three of his compatriots. The appeal was filed in a Sharjah Court of Appeals, India's Consul-General Sanjay Verma has said.

The Consulate had earlier said that they have hired a Dubai-based law firm, Mohamed Salman Advocates and Legal Consultants, to represent the Indians. Earlier a lawyer, Bindu Suresh Chettur, who met the convicts on behalf of the law firm, said the men maintained their innocence. "I visited all of them at the jail and they signed the papers," he said.

Consulate officials had met all 17 Indians earlier this week and said that they were in good health. The convicted, 16 from the Punjab and one from Haryana, were recently found guilty by the Sharjah Court of killing a Pakistani national and injuring three of his compatriots allegedly during a clash in an illegal alcohol business in January 2009.

About 50 people were involved in the attack, in which the Pakistani man was beaten to death with metal bars. The men on death row are accused of being the gang leaders.