India: Inmate attack in Pakistan sparks protests

An Indian prisoner facing the death penalty in Pakistan on spy charges suffered series injuries after an attack at the prison. Sarabjit Singh was wounded in a fight at Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Jail, prison officials say.

Singh was sentenced to death 16 years ago in a high-profile case that captured national attention.

He was admitted to the hospital Friday with a "serious head injury," doctor Mohammad Ahsan from Jinnah Hospital  told Agence France-Presse. A doctor later gave the AFP  a grim update  on Singh's condition: "Singh's condition is critical with multiple wounds on his head, abdomen, jaws and other body parts, and he has been put on ventilator."

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The attack on Singh has sparked protests in India. "This was a conspiracy to kill Sarabjit Singh in which they have meted out inhuman treatment to him. This was well planned by Pakistan," one protester told Reuters. 

In the first official statement from the Pakistani government on the incident, authorities acknowledged that there was a "scuffle" between prisoners."Doctors and medical staff at the hospital are working round-the-clock to revive the prisoner, who remains unconscious and on a ventilator," the Foreign Office  told the media in a statement.