AN INDIAN court has sentenced to death the lone surviving Pakistani gunman from the November 2008 terror attacks on the country’s financial capital Mumbai in which 166 people died.
Mohammed Ajmal Kasab (22), who covered his face and wept when the sentence was announced at a special court in Mumbai, was found guilty on all 86 charges including four counts of murder, waging war against India, conspiracy and terrorism offences.
“He should be hanged by the neck until he is dead,” Judge ML Tahaliyani declared while passing sentence on the terrorist from Pakistan’s Punjab province. The prosecution had described him as a “killing machine” and “cruelty incarnate” during his year-long trial.
The judge said the evidence showed “previous, meticulous and systematic planning” of the atrocity which saw 10 gunmen from the Pakistan-based Lashkar-i- Taiba (LiT or Army of the Pure) Islamist group attack two Mumbai hotels, its main railway station, a restaurant and a Jewish centre in a siege lasting over 60 hours.
“Brutality was writ large,” said the judge, describing the offences as “of exceptional depravity”. He added such a person “cannot be given an opportunity to reform himself”.
A CCTV photograph of an insouciant Kasab firing his assault rifle at Mumbai’s train station randomly at passengers had become the defining image of the attacks.
Mumbai residents, including relatives of those who died, set off firecrackers after the sentence was announced. “They should hang him near the Gateway of India” said Ramesh Pawar, a bank employee, referring to the tourist attraction on the waterfront.
The death sentence, however, has yet to be reviewed and confirmed by the Mumbai High Court. It would render Kasab the 52nd person awaiting execution in India.
Kasab can appeal the decision and apply for clemency, although his lawyer said no decision had been made yet. Legal experts said it would be “a while” before the sentence could be carried out.
India blames the LiT based near the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore for masterminding the Mumbai attack that has deepened the rift between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
Mr Tahaliyani said evidence implicated at least 20 people – the majority LiT members – living in Pakistan. Pakistan has distanced itself from Kasab.
“Our legal experts need to go through the detailed judgment,” Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said in Islamabad.