INDIA DELAYS EXECUTION OF CONVICTED KASHMIRI

the execution of Mohammed Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri man sentenced to death for his role in the 2001 Indian parliament attack, had been delayed until the president answered his call for clemency, officials said.
A month earlier, a New Delhi judge set October 20 for Guru’s hanging, but the 35-year-old had been granted a reprieve since a presidential appeal had been made, presidential spokesman S.M. Khan told AFP.
“It has been deferred as he has filed the mercy petition,” Khan said.
“It is normal procedure to defer execution when such a petition is filed,” he said.
Guru was convicted of plotting the December 13, 2001 raid on the national legislature that left 14 people dead, including the five attackers, and brought nuclear-armed India and Pakistan close to war. “Normal chores like getting the executioner at place, the medical examination of the condemned prisoner, the grant of a last wish or arrangements for religious services will be done only after we receive fresh orders,” the prison official, who asked no to be named, told AFP.