President pardons Indian on death row for 35 years

President Pervez Musharraf has pardoned an Indian national who spent 35 years languishing on death row on espionage charges, a minister said on Friday. Kashmir Singh was arrested in 1973 and given a death sentence by a military court and has since become "mentally disabled" while held under the Official Secrets Act, Human Rights Minister Ansar Burney said.
"A mercy petition has been accepted by President Pervez Musharraf and Singh is to be released within the next two days," Burney, who also heads a private welfare trust, said in a statement. Burney said the President expressed "shock and disbelief" when informed about Singh and accepted his mercy petition and issued orders for his release and repatriation. He added that he had now located Singh's family in India.