On death row in Dubai for 23 years, Indian's mercy plea: 'Hang me now'

While India is providing legal help to 17 Indians sentenced to be shot in Sharjah for murdering a Pakistani, in next-door Dubai, a 64-year-old carpenter from Tamil Nadu — forgotten for the past 23 years — is seeking his own quick execution.

Paul George Nadar was sentenced to be hanged by the Dubai Civil Court in July 1987 for killing nine family members of two Pakistanis, who had beaten him up following a fight. He was drunk when he poured an industrial solution on the plywood shanties the families lived in, and set them afire, in 1985. 2 women and 7 children died.

Then fate intervened — not long after he was sent to the gallows, the UAE did a rethink on executions, which were common at that time. Now only very exceptional cases can get death by hanging. Only 6 people have been shot or sent to the gallows in the last decade and half. Meanwhile, waiting for execution, Nadar has served the longest time on death row by an Indian in Dubai.

Source: Indian Express, June 16, 2010