Gateway blast convict wants to ‘auction’ kidney

Auto-rickshaw driver Haneef Sayeed (46) wants to auction one of his kidneys to pay his lawyer for challenging his and his wife Fehmida Sayeed’s conviction in the 2003 Gateway of India-Zaveri Bazar bomb blasts.

Auto-rickshaw driver Haneef Sayeed (46) wants to auction one of his kidneys to pay his lawyer for challenging his and his wife Fehmida Sayeed’s conviction in the 2003 Gateway of India-Zaveri Bazar bomb blasts.

HT Image

The couple is on death row after a special anti-terrorism court found them guilty of planting the bombs that killed 56 people.

In a three-page letter in English to his lawyer, Sushan Kunjuraman, Sayeed has requested that the Bombay High Court’s permission be sought in this regard.

“I will move the Bombay High Court in a few days,” Kunjuraman, who received the letter 10 days ago, told Hindustan Times.
Sayeed, currently in the Nagpur central jail, says in his letter: “I am very serious because I don’t have money to pay the lawyer’s fees for my and my wife’s appeal pending before the high court.”

“I will give my kidney to the person whoever pays more,” the letter says.

Explaining how he plans to auction one of his kidneys, Sayeed states: “Once high court grants permission we will publish advertisement and will bargain for high price.”

Along with the Sayeeds, the special Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) court had sentenced to death Ashart Ansari (32), a zari worker, for his involvement in the twin blasts.