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India-Pakistan

Death sentence confirmed for Mumbai attacker

2011-02-22

[Emirates 24/7] Two Indian judges on Monday confirmed the death sentence for the sole surviving gunman of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, in which 10 snuffies laid siege to the city, killing 166 people. Sounds fair. He participated in imposing a death penalty on 166 people who hadn't done anything. The Bombay High Court dismissed the claim by Pak national Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab that he was wrongfully convicted of taking part in the attacks, likened in India to those in the United States on September 11, 2001. "No, really. They shoulda let me off on a technicality!" "What technicality?" "I dunno. You're the lawyers. Find one!" The judges also threw out the state's appeal against a lower court's decision to acquit two Indian nationals accused of providing hand-drawn maps to the 10 gunnies. Kasab, who did not attend the appeal for security reasons but was able to follow proceedings via video link, looked at the floor as the judgment was handed down, news channel NDTV said. "Harsh penalty of death is required in some cases, especially this one, and the court would be sending a wrong signal to society if any penalty less than death is given," judges Ranjana Desai and RV More said in their ruling. "Kasab has never shown any remorse after his arrest and we have observed that even on video conference he has not shown any signs of regret." The 23-year-old was found guilty last May of a string of offences including waging war against India, murder, attempted murder and terrorist acts after a trial at a maximum security prison court in Mumbai. During the trial, the prosecution produced weighty fingerprint, DNA, eye-witness, CCTV and other evidence against him. In the appeal, which began last October, Kasab's legal team asked for a retrial, arguing that his trial lawyer was not given sufficient time to wade through the 11,000-page charge sheet before the case began. They also claimed that prosecution evidence and witnesses were manipulated. Under Indian law, death sentence cases have to be referred to the local state high court. The judges can uphold the sentence, reduce it, order a retrial or overturn the conviction. Kasab has a further right of appeal to the Supreme Court in New Delhi and as a last resort to India's president for clemency. One of his lawyers, Farhana Shah, told news hounds outside court: "We will inform Kasab of his legal rights. Kasab has to decide. If he wishes (to appeal) he can do so." Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam flashed a victory sign on the court steps and described the judgment as a "historic verdict". "Truth has prevailed," he said. "We appealed to the court that this was the rarest of rare cases and that he should be hanged, which the court approved." India's home minister P. Chidambaram said the verdict was "a tribute to our legal system" and contrasted it with the trial of the alleged criminal masterminds in Pakistain, where he said there had been "no movement at all". Prithviraj Chavan, the chief minister of Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital, also called on Pakistain to prosecute those responsible. India claims the banned, Pakistain-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba were behind the attacks, which led to the suspension of fragile peace talks between the two neighbours and rivals. New Delhi and Islamabad only this month agreed to resume dialogue. Why? The victims aren't dead anymore? Hafiz Saeed is in jug waiting for the high jump? Kasab was found to have been one of the two gunnies responsible for the bloodiest episode in the three-day attacks, when 52 people were killed at Mumbai's main railway station on November 26, 2008. A number of senior Mumbai coppers, including the head of the Maharashtra state anti-terrorism squad, were killed as the gunnies decamped from the scene of carnage. Three luxury hotels, a popular tourist restaurant and a Jewish centre were also attacked. In the case of Kasab's co-accused, the high court judges agreed with the trial judge that there was "no corroboration of evidence to prove involvement of Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed". The men's defence teams had said a Pak-American man, David Coleman Headley, conducted the reconnaissance. He was nabbed in 2009 and has admitted to scouting out targets. Chief minister Chavan said the state would appeal against the high court's decision to uphold the not guilty verdicts.

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India-Pakistan

Pakistan: Report finds evidence linking militant group to Mumbai bombings

2009-07-30

[ADN Kronos] Pakistani investigators have found substantial evidence directly connecting the militant group Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) to last year's Mumbai terrorist attacks which killed 166 people and injured 300 others, said an official report published on Wednesday. The findings provided the basis for the trial which started last week of five arrested LeT operatives by an anti-terrorism court inside Rawalpindi's Adiala jail. "The investigation has established beyond any reasonable doubt that the defunct LeT activists conspired, abetted, planned, financed and established communication network to carry out terror attacks in Mumbai," said the report. It is the first time that Pakistanis are being tried inside the country for carrying out terrorist attacks on foreign soil. Political and security analysts in the capital Islamabad said the serious nature of investigation into LeT's involvement and the trial indicated Pakistan's determination and commitment not to allow its territory to be used for planning and launching terrorist attacks. An updated report on Pakistani investigation handed over to India on 11 July said the material recovered from LeT camps in Karachi and the coastal town of Thatta indicated that the terrorists were provided training and weapons by the militant outfit. The investigation gives some new and startling details about people involved in training and providing finances for the worst terrorist attack in India which heightened tensions between the two South Asian nations. The LeT, which is the most powerful Pakistan-based Jihadi group, was outlawed in 2002, but it continued to operate in Kashmir. Western intelligence agencies maintain it continued its activities in Pakistan under the banner of Jamaatud Dawa, the charity wing of the group which also was declared a terrorist outfit by the United Nations Security Council earlier this year. Pakistan has already arrested and charged five LeT commanders including Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah with planning and facilitating the bloody assault. The other three accused are Hammad Amin Sadiq, Mazhar Iqbal alias Al Qama and Shahid Jamil Riaz, all activists of LeT. Ajmal Amir Qasab, the sole surviving gunman of the Mumbai attack who is now in Indian custody, in his statement named Lakhvi, Zarar Shah and some other LeT commanders for training and launching the terrorists. Qasab who came from the town of Faridkot in Pakistan's Punjab, was among 10 terrorists who carried out the attacks. The other nine killed during the attacks also belonged to Punjab which is the main stronghold of LeT. The accused were taken on Saturday before a makeshift anti-terrorism court in the high-security Adiala jail in Rawalpindi. "There are sufficient oral, direct documentary, circumstantial and scientific evidence which directly connect the accused with the commission of the offence," said the charge-sheet. Lakhvi, Zarar Shah and Mazhar Iqbal (also known as 'Al Qama') have also been charged with planning, preparation and execution of the attacks and operational handling of the 10 terrorists. Lakhvi, the top commander of the LeT who was arrested on 18 February, is a resident of Rinala Khurd in the district of Okara. He is named as the mastermind of the entire Mumbai massacre operation. Investigators here said they had recovered handwritten diaries, training manuals, Indian maps and operational instructions from the LeT camps. "The accused were running training camps for terrorists, providing sea and navigational training, conducting intelligence courses and directions for terrorist attack," the report said. According to the new details, training sessions, codenamed 'Azizabad', were held in an LeT camp in the Pakistani city of Karachi from where the investigators seized militant literature, inflatable lifeboats, detailed maps of the Indian coastline, handwritten literature on navigational training and manual of an intelligence course. Another training camp in Thatta was housed in five thatched rooms about two kilometres from a creek from where small boats sail to the sea. The terrorists also received training in this camp. The investigators seized pocket diaries containing names of the accused and other persons and details of expenditure of the camp. Pakistan has asked Indian authorities to provide more information about Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed, the Indian nationals suspected to be involved in facilitating the attack. Both are in custody and the Indian authorities had earlier denied that any of their nationals was involved in the attacks. During investigations, the two had confessed to visiting Lahore, Rawalpindi, Muridke, Karachi and Muzaffarabad. They were also believed to be in contact with the five accused.

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India-Pakistan

Qasab sentence could be as low as 3 years

2009-04-25

[Iran Press TV Latest] An Indian court has demanded an inquiry to conclude whether the lone surviving gunman of Mumbai attacks, Ajmal Amir Qasab is of legal age to be prosecuted. Judge ML Tahiliyani commissioned special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam to call on doctors and jailor to investigate Qasab's age. The court also ordered jail authorities to take Qasab for ossification test as well as dental test to determine his age. The radiologist and dentist, who will conduct the tests, have been asked to submit their reports ahead of April 28. Qasab will take the tests under heavy security, his defense attorney, Abbas Kamzi, said. Once the inquiry establishes Qasab as juvenile, then the case will be transferred to the juvenile court. The lawyer outlined that the maximum punishment prescribed under Juvenile Justice Act is three years imprisonment. The prime suspect in the Mumbai terror attacks case, Qasab, had earlier said that he was juvenile pushing for his case to be transferred to the Juvenile Justice Court. His plea was nonetheless turned down and it was declared that he did not appear to be juvenile. Indian security forces apprehended Ajmal Amir Qasab on the first day of Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008. He has been in Indian custody ever since. The Pakistani national has been accused of murder and waging war on India. Together with Qasab, two Indians, Fahim Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed, are also on trial, charged with being members of the outlawed Lashkar-e-Taiba (leT) militant group and of spearheading the Mumbai attacks. Relations between New Delhi and Islamabad have been tense since the death of over 170 people in last November's terror attacks on India's financial hub -- Mumbai. India blamed banned Pakistan-based militants for the raids, alleging that the perpetrators were 'clients and creations' of the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) -- an allegation Islamabad has frequently rejected.

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India-Pakistan

312 charges against Ajmal, 2 others

2009-04-22

[The Hindu National] The prosecution on Monday submitted a draft of 312 charges it proposes to frame against Mohammad Ajmal Amir 'Kasab' and two Indians, Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed, in the Mumbai attacks case.

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India-Pakistan

FBI woman sexually harassed me: 26/11 accused terrorist

2009-02-10

MUMBAI: The probe into the November 26 Mumbai terror attack took an unusual twist with one of the accused, Faheem Ansari, levelling sexual harassment allegations against a woman officer of America's Federal Bureau of Investigation. An FBI team is conducting an independent probe into the attacks. "She wouldn't lemme alone! Time after time! All through the night!" Faheem has moved the court with his lawyer Ejaz Naqvi filing an application before an Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate alleging that a woman FBI officer, who had interrogated the accused, had "sexually harrassed him all through the night." "And the hickeys! I'm so ashamed!" The court issued a notice on Monday to the city police's crime branch and directed it to file their reply to the application by February 26. "What should we say, chief?... Chief?... Should I get you a glass of water?" The application also made a plea for Faheem to be sent for medical check-up as he has developed "itches and wounds in his private parts and all over his body". "This is gonna hurt, but it usually clears that sort of thing up right away. But no sexual harrassment for two weeks!" "Faheem had been interrogated by three FBI officers out of which one of them, a woman officer, had sexually abused him," Naqvi told the court. "She had... hips! And... And... She had... thighs!... And her... And her bosom! Mama mia!" Faheem had earlier filed an application seeking action against the city police for allegedly allowing the FBI to interrogate him. "Interrogations! Interrogations! Getcher interrogations right here! Only a nickel!" The Crime Branch will have to file their reply on whether any foreign investigating agencies like the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had been allowed to interrogate the accused in the November 26 terror attacks case. "According to Indian law, no foreign agency can be allowed to interrogate an Indian suspect and we have sought relief from the court," Naqvi said. Faheem and his associate Sabauddin Ahmed, are in the custody of the Crime Branch till February 17. The Crime Branch is investigating whether the duo was responsible for providing data regarding locations targeted by terrorists during the November 26 attacks. Ansari and Sabauddin were arrested last year in connection with the 2007 New Year eve attack on a CRPF camp in Rampur in Uttar Pradesh. The lone terrorist, Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, arrested in the November 26 terror strikes is also presently in police custody till February 13.

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India-Pakistan

Further custody for two Mumbai attacks suspects

2009-01-13

Two suspected members of Laskhar-e-Taiba (LT) blamed for the Mumbai attacks appeared in court here on Monday and were remanded in police custody for further questioning, police said. A city magistrate granted detectives until January 23 to hold and quiz Fahim Ansari and Sabauddin Ahmed over the November attacks, Mumbai police commissioner Deven Bharti told AFP. Both men were initially arrested last February in connection with an assault on police in northern Uttar Pradesh state. They are alleged to have prepared surveillance on Mumbai and submitted information to the banned LT about possible targets before they were arrested.

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India-Pakistan

Investigators in India Turn Focus to Homegrown Suspects

2008-12-12

Having blamed a Pakistani terrorist group for last month's deadly attacks in Mumbai, investigators are turning their attention to homegrown suspects who may have assisted with attacks on Indian soil. The suspects are thought to have offered help with surveillance, safe houses and border crossings. The potential involvement of Indians complicates India's initial assertion that the Mumbai attacks were carried out solely by Pakistani nationals. Mumbai police are looking in particular at two Indian suspects in their custody who, they say, were trained by the Pakistani group Lashkar-i-Taiba and who may have helped extremists as they prepared to launch strikes. Indian police say at least one Indian operative -- Sabauddin Ahmed, 29 -- aided Pakistani extremists by providing safe houses and guiding them across the border to carry out assaults in India. Although Pakistani extremists once favored Kashmir as their route into India, crossing the border there has become more difficult in recent years as authorities have cracked down on infiltrators. Indian investigators say they are uncovering information on a vast network of paths into India through Nepal and Bangladesh, as well as the Arabian Sea, the route chosen by the 10 gunmen who carried out the Mumbai attacks. The use of new land and sea routes, investigators say, has widened the theater of war beyond Kashmir and into the Indian heartland, as well as cosmopolitan cities such as Hyderabad and Bangalore, both of which were recently the scene of bombings. "When it became more difficult for them to cross the Line of Control into Kashmir from Pakistan, the militants found other routes," said Ajay Sahni, a counterterrorism expert and executive director of the Institute for Conflict Management in New Delhi. "Nepal is a completely unpoliced border, with a mixed population living all along the border, and they cross over with absolutely no documentation on a daily basis. Many people from Bangladesh come into India to work and return in the evening. These are very poorly policed; the fences are not well maintained," he said. Use of the routes by extremists, analysts say, could force India to seek better cooperation from its eastern neighbors, just as it has with its western neighbor, Pakistan. The focus on possible Indian collaborators comes nearly two weeks after the assault on India's financial capital, in which gunmen opened fire at several sites and laid siege to two luxury hotels and a Jewish outreach center, killing at least 171 people, including six Americans, and wounding more than 230. Ahmed is being brought to Mumbai for questioning over his alleged links to Lashkar, the group that is said to have masterminded the attacks. Indian police arrested Ahmed, along with another suspect, Faheem Ansari, 35, earlier this year in connection with a grenade attack on a police camp. It is unclear whether Ahmed was involved in the Mumbai assault. Ansari apparently had a map of Mumbai, with targets in last month's attacks highlighted. Police say Ansari may have been preparing for the attacks for more than a year. Ansari sent detailed video clips and maps of key South Mumbai locations to Lashkar commanders through a conduit in Nepal, police say. Some of the locations were targeted by the gunmen. Ahmed had helped bring gunmen from Nepal for at least two attacks, in 2005 and 2007, police say.

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