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Designer Anand Jon's friends hold candlelight vigil in Delhi

          New Delhi: Celebrity fashion designer Anand Jon's friends and relatives held candlelight vigil here last evening seeking justice for him. Jon was convicted in November last year of raping and sexually assaulting aspiring models. As the contents of sealed motions filed in the case are to be revealed on February 27, it is being speculated that he might get a new trial. The protesters, under the aegis of the Confederation of Non-Resident Indians, held banners and posters supporting Jon. Jon's mother said the media should highlight her son's plight. "The media should write more about it. There should be a campaign so that Anand gets his freedom and justice. We are only asking for justice," said Shashi Abraham. Jon, 34, a rising designer who had dressed socialite Paris Hilton and singer Janet Jackson before his arrest last year, faces possible life imprisonment after a Los Angeles Superior Court jury found him guilty on 16 criminal counts. The crimes involved lewd acts on a child, rape and sexual battery in assaults between 2001 and 2007 against nine would-be models aged between 14 and 21. He was also convicted of possessing child pornography. Prosecutors said Jon lured girls and women to Los Angeles with the promise they could work as models and then attacked them. Jon, whose full name is Anand Jon Alexander, denied the charges. His lawyers said the girls and young women were revenge seekers who had made up their stories or who had "invited what happened," and that there was little physical evidence. The designer was acquitted of four charges and the jury could not reach a verdict on three other counts. Jon has been in custody for more than a year because he is being investigated on similar charges in New York and Dallas.
-Feb 25, 2009

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