THE family of jailed deaf charity worker Ian Stillman reacted with hope yesterday that the Indian President could be about to set him free.

In an interview in London on Thursday, the Indian Dep-uty Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani, said the President was considering granting Mr Stillman clemency and that it could happen "very soon".

Supporters of the jailed humanitarian, whose family live in York, have recently sent off a 200-page document in their bid for a Presidential Pardon.

Yesterday, Mr Stillman's sister, Elspeth, said: "We are enormously encouraged."

Mr Stillman was sentenced to ten years in an Indian jail after police claimed they found cannabis in a public taxi in which he was travelling - a claim he denied.

Supporters claimed he was denied a fair trial because no sign language interpretation was ever provided for him.

Since the conviction, subsequent Appeal and Supreme courts have upheld the original judge's decision that Mr Stillman is not deaf.

His sister stressed that they hoped it would be a pardon as setting him free under a plea for clemency would almost certainly mean deportation.

"I think it would be a huge loss to the Indian deaf community," she said. "I don't think it's over-dramatising to say they would be devastated because he has contributed such a great deal.

"He just feels there is so much more to do there and would find it quite a blow."