Photo: File 

KARACHI: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will request Indonesian President Joko Widodo to send Pakistani prisoner in Indonesia back to the country on humanitarian grounds as he has been diagnosed with cancer, said Minister for Foreign Affairs Khawaja Asif Thursday.

While speaking on Geo News show Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath, the foreign minister said Abbasi would request the Indonesian president to let the Pakistani prisoner in Indonesia, Zulfiqar Ali, complete his prison sentence in Pakistan.

?The prime minister was already aware of the issue when I spoke to him,? Asif said. ?He was hopeful that the Indonesian president would not refuse and would give a solution on humanitarian grounds.?

Widodo will be in Pakistan on January 26-27.

According to Asif, it has been said that Ali is innocent and that the statements given against him have been taken back.

Mother of cancer-suffering Pakistani death row prisoner in Indonesia appeals for release

Zulfiqar Ali, 53, has been diagnosed with stage-4 liver cancer

Doctors have estimated Ali's life expectancy to be three months, stated a press release issued by Justice Project Pakistan, a human rights organisation that provides free of charge legal counselling for "vulnerable Pakistani prisoners" in overseas jails.

?His attending physician confirmed last month that Zulfiqar has been suffering from cancer in both lobes of the liver. He is also suffering from chronic liver cirrhosis and Diabetes Mellitus,? the press release read. ?After being detained for nearly 14 years for a wrongful conviction, Zulfiqar may die in prison while waiting to be executed.?

Father of five from Mughalpura area of Lahore, 53-year-old Ali was arrested in Indonesia on drug-related charges in 2004. His case surfaced in 2016, when Indonesia informed Pakistani embassy in Jakarta that Ali would be soon executed over possession of 300 grammes of heroin.

His execution was halted after rights groups and United Nations appealed to the Indonesian government and Pakistani diplomatic authorities also intervened.