INDIA: AFZAL 'SICK' OF DELAY IN DEATH PENALTY

on death row for the last three years, India's most controversial convict, Mohammed Afzal, wants a speedy conclusion to his ordeal. "I don't think the government can ever reach a decision," Afzal said. He was convicted for the December 2001 Indian Parliament attack. "I really wish L K Advani becomes India's next Prime Minister as he is the only one who can take a decision and hang me. At least my pain and daily suffering would ease then," said Afzal, who has been in solitary confinement in the capital's high security Tihar Jail. In this rare interview, Afzal's first since he was convicted by the Supreme Court in 2004 that was subsequently upheld a year later, he says the death sentence had made him delusional. He, too, has filed a mercy petition - along with 40 others - that is pending before the President. "Life has become hell in the jail. I requested the government to take an immediate decision over my sentence just two months ago. I don't wish to be part of the living dead," he explained. Human rights activists have demanded a reprieve, as they believe that Afzal's trial was flawed.