The hearing of the appeals of 17 Indians, sentenced to death for killing a Pakistani man, was adjourned for the third time by a Sharjah Court of Appeals, saying that it wanted an official interpreter for the convicts.
The court has fixed September 1 as the date for the next hearing.
“The court did not accept an interpreter arranged by the Indian embassy as he had not been cleared by the UAE's Ministry of Justice,” defence lawyer for the accused, Bindu Suresh Chettur said.
The court had also adjourned the case scheduled to come up on May 19 and June 16, as the defendants complained of not having any interpreter.
The Indians had told the court that they only understand Punjabi, following which consulate authorities were asked to provide a Punjabi-English translator, well versed in Arabic, the language used in court proceedings.
Mr. Chettur, however, attributed the adjournments to the Gulf state having summer vacations, a time when judges often go on leave.
“We are likely to see progress only after the fasting month of Ramadan,” she said.
A Sharjah Court of First Instance had on March 29 found the Indians, 16 from Punjab and one from Haryana, guilty of beating a Pakistani man to death with metal bars and wounding three others when a fight involving dozens of bootleggers broke out in Al-Sajaa industrial area in Sharjah in January last year.
An appeal was filed on April 7 on behalf of the Indians. About 50 people were allegedly involved in the attack.
Amid outrage in India over the verdict, the Indian government had asked its consulate in Sharjah to engage a top lawyer and file appeal
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