Indian death row spy Kulbushan ‘must be freed’, India tells UN court

THE HAGUE: Islamabad should be ordered to free Indian spy Kulbushan Sudhir Jadhav who was sentenced to death for spying in Pakistan, India´s lawyers told the UN´s top court Monday.

Jadhav, an Indian spy and former Indian navy officer, was arrested in Balochistan in March 2016 on charges of espionage and sentenced to death by a military court in 2017.

India insists Jadhav, 48, was not a spy and that he was kidnapped in Pakistan. New Delhi is now asking the ICJ -- which rules in disputes between countries -- to nullify his sentence and to order Islamabad to set him free.

"Considering the trauma over the past three years, it would be in the interest of justice of making human rights a reality, to direct his release," India´s lawyer Harish Salve told the judges.

India´s joint secretary at its External Affairs Ministry, Deepak Mittal, told the court the proceedings against Jadhav in Pakistan were based on a "farcical case" and "malicious propaganda".

Islamabad´s lawyers are to state their case on Tuesday.

The ICJ´s decision will likely come months after this week´s hearings.