(CNN) -- The only surviving gunman in the 2008 attacks on Mumbai that killed more than 160 people was sentenced to death by hanging on Thursday.Mohammed Ajmal Kasab (pictured), a Pakistani, was convicted on Monday of murder, conspiracy, and waging war on India. He was sentenced to death on five separate counts, and life imprisonment on five others.
On receiving the sentence, Kasab lowered his head. He was silent when the judge asked him if he wanted to say anything.
Kasab is the only man to have been sentenced in connection with the three-day siege in November 2008. During the raids, 10 men attacked buildings including the luxury Taj Mahal Palace and Tower and Oberoi-Trident hotels, the city's Victoria Terminus train station, and the Jewish cultural center, Chabad House.
Kasab was photographed (left) holding an assault weapon during the attacks.
India blamed the attacks on the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, a Pakistan-based terror group allied with al Qaeda.
Authorities said Kasab was trained by the organization, which was banned in Pakistan in 2002 after an attack on India's parliament. The group denied responsibility.
Indian forces killed nine suspects in the attack. Their bodies were embalmed and kept in a hospital morgue as some local Muslim groups refused to bury them in their graveyards, saying the attackers were not true followers of Islam.
An Indian official in Maharashtra state, where Mumbai is located, has said a burial took place in January this year. He did not give the date or the exact location of what he described as a secret funeral.
Two Indian nationals accused of conspiracy were acquitted in the trial.
The prosecutor said he would fight their acquittals.
Source: CNN.com, May 6, 2010
Hanging Kasab may take years
NEW DELHI: Hanging 26/11 terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab may be sooner said than done as the death sentence given by the special court in Mumbai on Thursday will now have to be endorsed by the Supreme Court and, in case of a mercy petition, will require the president's assent.
The entire process could take years if not decades as there are at least 52 people still waiting for presidential assent on their execution, while nearly 300 others condemned to the gallows by lower courts are awaiting the apex court's endorsement.
As Kasab, the lone Pakistan-based terrorist caught alive in the Mumbai terror attack, has been tried under various charges of terrorism under India's latest anti-terror law, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 2004, by a special anti-terror court, he will be entitled to approach the Supreme Court directly to challenge the trial court verdict, including his death sentence.
And even if the apex court conducts an expeditious hearing over his appeal, it is highly unlikely that the final decision in the case will be taken in less than five years, say legal experts.
For, even if the apex court decides in favour of the death sentence, Kasab will be entitled to seek a review of the verdict. And in case, if the apex court sticks to its stand, he may approach it a third time with what is known as a curative petition, raising some question of law.
In case the apex court again decides against Kasab, he will still have the freedom to approach the President of India with a mercy petition to seek commutation of his death sentence into life or outright release under Article 72 of the constitution.
Kasab was among 10 Pakistani gunmen who struck in Mumbai in November 2008 in India's worst terror attack that left 166 people dead. Other than Kasab, the nine others gunmen were killed by security forces.
The list of prisoners already condemned to the gallows in India but waiting presidential assent for execution includes Mohammed Afzal Guru, convicted for his role in the December 2001 parliament attack case.
Sources said Guru's mercy petition is still pending with the union home ministry to be processed and sent to the Rastrapati Bhavan for the president to take a decision on whether he should be sent to gallows.
Source: The Times of India, May 6, 2010
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