28 Indians in UAE on death row, highest in any foreign country

The UAE accounts for the highest number of Indians on death row in a foreign land.

As many as 29 Indians were facing the death sentence in the UAE, Kirti Vardhan Singh, Minister of State for External Affairs, had informed the Rajya Sabha on February 13.

The number has come down to 28 after the execution of Shahzadi Khan, a 33-year-old woman from Banda district in UP, in Abu Dhabi on February 15, the Ministry of External Affairs informed a court in Delhi on Monday.

As many as 12 Indians were facing the death sentence in Saudi Arabia, three in Kuwait and one in Qatar, the minister said.

Answering a question from Haris Beeran of the Indian Union Muslim League, Kirti Vardhan Singh said as per the information available with the ministry, the number of Indian citizens awarded the death sentence by foreign courts was 54.

In response to another question from TMC member Saket Gokhale, Kirti Vardhan Singh said the number of Indian prisoners, including undertrials, in foreign prisons at present was 10,152.

Saudi Arabia (2,633) and the UAE (2,518) accounted for the highest number of Indian prisoners, the minister said.

To a question by CPM member John Brittas regarding Nimisha Priya, an Indian-origin nurse sentenced to death by the Supreme Court of Yemen on charges of murdering a Yemeni national, Kirti Vardhan Singh, in a written reply on February 13, said the matter regarding any consideration towards the release of Priya was between the family of the deceased and Priya’s family.

The Centre was trying to help Priya’s family pay “blood money” to the family of the deceased to secure Priya’s release, the minister said while answering a supplementary question.