India: Kasab to challenge his death sentence

Ajmal Kasab (left), the terrorist who was sentenced to death last month by a special Mumbai court for his involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai attack in 2008 that killed more than 160 persons, wants to challange his conviction in the high court.

Kasab has written to the free legal aid committee seeking the appointment of a lawyer for him.

Kasab can apply to the high court and thereafter to the Supreme Court. He also has the right to apply for a Presidential pardon.

The 22-year-old handed the letter to the jail superintendent, who has forwarded it to the legal aid committee. The committee is expected appoint a lawyer, who would study the case and then appeal to the high court in about 2 weeks.

A special 26/11 trial court on May 6 sentenced the sole surviving terrorist of the Mumbai attack to death, 17 months after the massacre took place.

While a number of people, especially the kin of the victims of the terror attack, expressed their desire to see Kasab hanged, the 22-year-old's lawyer had appealed for leniency on grounds that he is very young.

Kasab, the only surviving Mumbai gunman, was convicted with 86 charges by judge Tahaliyani on May 3, with the charges ranging from waging war against the nation to indulging in terror acts.

Describing Kasab as a "killing machine manufactured in Pakistan" who had total disregard for life, public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam had urged for capital punishment for such a "monster".

"Such a monster should be given death penalty. He is an agent of devil himself," Nikam submitted before the special anti-terror court.

Nikam equated Kasab with Satan, a devil, a snake in human form and demanded maximum punishment.

"If Kasab is given lesser punishment, India will become a soft target for every self-styled terror group."

"Kasab has lost every right to live. He was not happy after killing 72 persons and wanted to kill more," the public prosecutor said.

"There was no remorse and he said in his confession before the magistrate that he wanted to inspire future fidayeens (suicide killers). If death is not awarded, it would be a mockery of justice," Nikam added.

The defence counsel, K P Pawar, is pleaded for a lesser punishment for Kasab, stating that Kasab was a misguided youth brainwashed by terrorists.

He argued that he was young and should be given a chance to reform himself.

Pawar also requested the court to consider the fact that Kasab had no previous criminal record.

Source: New Kerala, June 6, 2010

Mumbai attacker seeks to appeal against death penalty

The sole surviving gunman of the Mumbai (Bombay) attacks of November 2008 has requested legal representation to appeal against his death penalty.

Over 170 people died when militants including Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab attacked various targets.

His request to appeal against his conviction and sentence is under consideration and a new lawyer will be appointed within days, officials say.

Qasab was sentenced last month after he was found guilty of mass murder.

'Not satisfied'

He was also convicted of waging war against India. The Bombay High Court has yet to confirm the death sentence.

10 gunmen attacked Mumbai on 26 November 2008 killing 166 people. All of them except Qasab were killed.

Qasab - a Pakistani national - has now written a one-page letter in Urdu requesting the state government to appoint a lawyer to act on his behalf.

The letter says he is not satisfied with the verdict and sentence and needs a lawyer to explain it in detail to him, officials say.

"We received the letter and have already forwarded it and presented his case. He wants to voice his grievances about some points which he thinks were not considered by the court," said KK Sonawane, from the Legal Aid Panel of the Bombay High Court.

Qasab also argued in the letter that he has no relatives in India who will take up his case, so he needs free legal aid.

During the trial Qasab was represented by 2 lawyers, one of whom was removed from the case for non-co-operation.

Since he was sentenced to death he has not had access to a lawyer.

Mr Sonawane said a lawyer may be appointed very soon and Qasab will decide with him how to go about filing his appeal.

Source: BBC News, June 6, 2010

9 terrorists have sought commutation of death sentence

Terrorism knows no religion, and as much emerges from a scrutiny of 29 mercy petitions filed by Indian death row prisoners. Of these, 26 are pending with the President's Secretariat, while the others, including the petition filed by Afzal Guru, who was convicted in the Parliament attack case, are “under examination” in the Home Ministry.

The details, which were accessed by Right to Information activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal, show that in all, nine convicted terrorists, including Afzal Guru, have sought commutation of the death sentence.

But, significantly, Afzal Guru is the only "Muslim" terrorist on the list. His petition is also the most recent. Rajiv Gandhi's assailants — Murugan, Santhan and Arivu — top the list with a mercy petition that dates back to 2000. The petition took 5 years to reach the President's Secretariat, where it has since been pending

Next comes Devender Pal Singh, who was sentenced to death for a terrorist act by a Special TADA Court in August 2001. The sentence was confirmed by the Supreme Court in March 2003. The same year, Singh, who was convicted in a bomb blast case, filed a mercy petition. It reached the President's office in 2005.

The 3rd terrorism case involves Simon, Gnanaprakash, Madaiah and Bilavendra, who were convicted of killing 22 Karnataka police personnel by blasting landmines. In September 2001, a trial court in Karnataka awarded all of them life imprisonment, which was enhanced by the Supreme Court to the death penalty. Their collective mercy petition, filed in 2004, has been pending with the President since 2005.

Afzal Guru was sentenced to death in December 2002. The trial court's sentence was confirmed by the Delhi High Court in November 2003 and by the Supreme Court in August 2005. His mercy petition, filed in 2006, has been going back and forth between the Home Ministry and the Delhi government.

Mercy petitions can be sent to either the President's office or the Home Ministry. However, the Constitution prescribes no time limit for their disposal, leading to indecision by successive Presidents, and in some cases, by governments.

President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam decided only two mercy petitions — in 2004 he rejected the plea of rape convict Dhananjoy Chatterjee, who was later hanged, and in 2006, he commuted Kheraj Ram's death penalty to life imprisonment.

President K.R. Narayanan did not clear any mercy petition.

President Pratibha Patil, who inherited a backlog of 25-odd cases, the earliest dating back to 1997, has decided only one case so far. In November 2009, she commuted R. Govindasamy's death sentence to life imprisonment.

Source: The Hindu, June 6, 2010