Indian president under pressure to pardon convict

Mohammad Afzal is scheduled to be hanged on October 20, but his family and rights groups say the punishment is too harsh and the verdict was based on a "shoddy investigation" into the December 13, 2001 attack, which left 14 people dead and pushed India and Pakistan to the brink of war.

The Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir has been rocked by protests since authorities in September set the date for Afzal's execution.

On Tuesday, his wife Tabassum, who uses only one name, filed a mercy petition with President APJ Abdul Kalam, said SAR Geelani, who also was accused in the case but was freed by the Supreme Court.

"The basis of the mercy petition is that he hasn't got a fair trial," Geelani told reporters.

Several rights groups have criticised Afzal's conviction, saying he was not provided with a lawyer of choice in the trial court and the Delhi High Court, which heard his appeal.

When the case moved to the Supreme Court, it upheld the High Court verdict so to satisfy "collective conscience of the (Indian) society," although the top court noted there was no evidence that Afzal, a surrendered militant, was a member of any terrorist organisation.

The Supreme Court also criticised investigators for fabricating some of the evidence and acquitted two others accused in the case.

The Society for the Protection of Detainee's and Prisoner's Rights, a New Delhi-based rights group, released copies of letters written by Afzal, claiming he made confessions under duress.

In his letter, Afzal said police in Kashmir detained his brother for months and threatened to kill his wife and 4-year-old son.

"How can you hang someone on the basis of such shoddy investigation?" Geelani said. "If Afzal is hanged to death, it

would be a stigma on Indian democracy."

Kashmiri separatist leaders have warned that hanging Afzal could derail the fragile peace process between India and Pakistan aimed at settling a decades-old dispute over Kashmir.