India – A court in India on Thursday handed a death sentence to the only surviving Pakistani gunman in the bloody 2008 Mumbai attacks.
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Judge M.L. Tahaliyani’s sentence came three days after Mohammed Ajmal Kasab was found guilty of murder and waging war against India for his role in the attacks that claimed 166 lives in the nation’s financial capital.
A death sentence must be reviewed by the High Court. Kasab can also appeal the decision and apply for clemency to the state and central governments.
India blames a Pakistan-based militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, for masterminding the attack.
The judge rejected arguments by Kasab’s attorney, K.P. Pawar, that he had committed the crime under duress and pressure from Lashkar.
The judge said Kasab joined the militant group on his own and trained to be a fighter.
“Such a person can’t be given an opportunity to reform himself,” the judge said.
Death sentences in India are carried out by hanging.
The special prosecutor in the trial, Ujjwal Nikam, said in an interview Wednesday that he expected it would take at least a year for Kasab to be executed.
Though India voted against a moratorium on capital punishment at the United Nations in 2007 and 2008, in practice, the country has been veering away from applying the death penalty.
Only one person has been executed since 1998 — a man convicted of raping and murdering a 14-year-old girl, who was sent to the gallows in August 2004.
Many convicts simply wait, as bureaucratic disregard — which some say is purposeful neglect by politicians leery of capital punishment — effectively transmutes a death sentence into life in prison. People responsible for the 1991 assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and a 2001 attack on India’s Parliament have yet to be executed.
Officials from the Home Ministry said Wednesday that they didn’t have information available on the number of Indians currently awaiting execution.
Make sure it’s a “short drop” hanging.
This is not appropiate;מעשה ידי טובעים בים ואתם אומרים שירה?
Too bad they can only hang him once.
They should bring him to 770 Eastern Parkway and let the Chabad carry out his execution
hanging is to quick. they should stone him, or somthing worse
Definetly what he deserves!
However, what if he does teshuva while awaiting his sentence? Will everybody start a campaign to stop it ala Grossman case? I am serious about this question. I dont understand how people can change their opinion so quickly unless they feel the same rules shouldnt apply to us.
theremis teritz to your question which i can notinto lenth. anyway from your remark i seeyour not a shomer otrah so you woudnt unerstand either and probably mock
this is terrible..he is not an islamic terrorist…the fellow is a troubled soul…and we should tell him to change.
As poster #11 , I do get it. I think that this man deserves the death penalty. Not because he killed Jews, but because he is a terrorist.
What I still dont understand is why people say b/c Grossman did teshuva we should stop his sentence. What I am trying to point out is if we used that logic for him, it needs to be used for everyone, Jewish, Christian or Muslim.
Was the Grossman sentence just? Thats debatable. But as Jews we have to be careful what we argue for and what reasons we use.