Will new UK PM save Afzal from noose?

A London-based group campaigning to save Afzal Guru, sentenced to death for the attack on Indian Parliament, plans to seek the intervention of the new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to get a reprieve for him.

At a meeting held at the House of Commons on Wednesday night, the group chaired by John McDonnell, Labour lawmaker, also decided to meet the Foreign Secretary David Miliband in this connection.

Amrit Wilson of South Asian Solidarity Group, who is spearheading the Save Afzal Guru campaign, said on Thursday that so far 30 lawmakers had signed an Early Day motion moved in the House of Commons urging President A P J Abdul Kalam to grant Afzal Guru a reprieve and call an inquiry into his conviction.

The motion was moved by McDonnell.

"I urge the President to use his Constitutional powers to intervene and save Afzal Guru's life. I say this in the hope that the President Abdul Kalam will, before the end of his tenure, give a lead to India joining the growing number of countries, which have abolished the death penalty," McDonnell said.