The five Indian fishermen with members of the Indian High Commission in Colombo.

Sri Lanka has released five Indians who were given the death sentence after being convicted for smuggling drugs into the country.All five convicts are fishermen from Tamil Nadu. India maintains they are innocent.Their sentence has been commuted by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse and they have been handed over to Indian officials in Colombo, said sources in the Lankan government.The five accused -- Emerson, P Augustus, R Wilson, K Prasath and J Langlet -- were sentenced to death last month by a court in Colombo.They were arrested in 2011.The Indian government had challenged the conviction in Sri Lanka's Supreme Court and over the weekend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had phoned President Rajapakse about the controversy. It was reportedly agreed that the fishermen would be transferred to an Indian prison.

Their sentencing triggered large protests in Tamil Nadu, which says its fishermen are unfairly targeted and arrested by the Sri Lankan navy for allegedly trespassing into Lankan waters.