Mumbai attacks: Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, sole-surviving terrorist, sentenced to death [Video]

The sole-surviving gunman involved in the Mumbai terror attacks has been sentenced to death.

An Indian court sentenced Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, 22, to death over the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people and raised tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbouring rivals.

The death penalty, which in India is carried out by hanging, must be confirmed by a higher court.

Kasab, from Pakistan, was the only terrorist captured alive following the three-day rampage by 10 gunmen in November 2008 which killed people at key Mumbai landmarks, including two luxury hotels, the main train station and a Jewish centre.



The Mumbai court on Monday had found Kasab guilty on more than 80 charges, including murder and waging war on India.

Judge M.L. Tahaliyani imposed the death penalty for four different crimes, namely murder, waging war against India, as well as conspiracy and terrorism offences.

“He should be hanged by the neck until he is dead,” he said.

Kasab could spend many years on death row, awaiting a series of appeals. The last execution in India was in 2004, when a security guard was hanged in Calcutta for the rape and murder of a schoolgirl. Since then, the last trained hangman in India is understood to have retired.

Kasab, the slightly built son of a foodstall owner, drifted into extremism from a life of petty crime. Since his capture, everything from his demands for meat biryani (the food in his prison is vegetarian) to his literary tastes (he was said to be reading Gandhi’s autobiography) have been pored over by India’s media.

At first he claimed to be a child ineligible for trial in an adult court, pleaded innocent and accused the police of beating a confession out of him. Three months later he confessed to taking part in the terror attack and said that he was “ready to hang”. The move was part of a pattern of bizarre behaviour.

At one stage in court, Kasab produced a white powder from a screwed-up piece of paper, saying it was poison that his prison guards had tried to add to his food. In December he retracted a confession that had included a detailed account of his indoctrination and weapons training. Instead, he claimed to be an aspiring film star who was in Mumbai hoping to break into Bollywood when he was arrested and set up.

Mumbai attacks: Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, sole-surviving terrorist, sentenced to death - Times Online