Held. Freed after 43 yrs. Held. Deportation ordered, paused

Two separate courts have ordered immigration officials not to deport an Indian-origin man who spent over four decades in prison before his murder conviction was overturned - a case that has come to symbolise one of the most tragic miscarriages of justice in the US.

- Agencies

Subramanyam Vedam, 64, who was born in Mumbai and moved to the US as an infant, is currently detained at a short-term holding centre in Alexandria, Louisiana. Vedam, a legal permanent resident known as “Subu,” was transferred there from central Pennsylvania last week, relatives said.

An immigration judge stayed his deportation on Thursday until the Bureau of Immigration Appeals decides whether to review his case, a process that could take several months. Vedam’s lawyers also secured a stay the same day in the US District Court in Pennsylvania but said the case may now be on hold given the immigration court ruling.

Vedam came to the US legally from India as a baby and grew up in State College, Pennsylvania, where his father taught physics at Penn State University. He was serving a life sentence for the 1980 murder of a friend before his conviction was overturned earlier this year - more than 43 years after he was first arrested.