Islamabad, Pakistan

Indian prisoner Hamid Nehal Ansari, whose three-year jail term ended on December 15 will be released on Tuesday, sources have told WION.

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Ansari, 33, was sentenced to prison by a Pakistan military court for allegedly possessing a fake Pakistani identity card.

He was arrested in 2012 for reportedly entering Pakistan illegally to meet a girl who he had befriended online. He was arrested after the girl's family complained that he was travelling illegally. He was however officially arrested later for after a military court tried him for espionage.

Ansari's jail term ended on December 15, his lawyer had pleaded that his client should have been released on December 16th.

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An officer, representing the Pakistan interior ministry had told the court that a prisoner could be kept for one month while the legal documents were being prepared. The Pakistan court had directed the authorities to finish all the legal documents and release Ansari to deport him back to India.

Last year, India had asked for consular access for Hamid Ansari who was in the list of prisoners held in Pakistan which was rejected. 

Ansari, a Mumbai resident, who is an engineer had filed a plea for remission in his sentence which was rejected by the Pakistan authorities last year.