An Indian man on death row in Pakistan for espionage died early Thursday after being attacked by fellow inmates. Sarabjit Singh, 51, died in hospital in the eastern city of Lahore, where he had been in a coma for at least five days.
Singh’s lawyer Owais Sheikh confirmed the death and said that his body “has been moved to the hospital mortuary”.
He sustained several injuries, including a fractured skull, when six prisoners attacked him on Friday last week, hitting him on the head with bricks.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office said the government had been providing “all assistance to the family of Sarabjit Singh as well as to the Indian authorities since the occurrence of this unfortunate incident”.
According to a statement released by the Foreign Office, Sarabjit had died of cardiac arrest despite being “provided the best treatment available” and the staff of Jinnah Hospital working round the clock to save his life.
Sarabjit was convicted of alleged involvement in a string of bomb attacks in Punjab province that killed 14 people in 1990 and spent about 22 years in Pakistani prisons. His family says he was the victim of mistaken identity and had inadvertently strayed across the border in an inebriated state.
His fate has been a source of tension between Pakistan and India since he was attacked last Friday. In a statement, the Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, said he was “deeply saddened” by Mr. Singh’s death, describing him as a “brave son of India”.


