Indian Ministry: President Should Reject Mumbai Gunman Plea

Posted October 23rd, 2012 at 11:25 am (UTC-5)
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India's Home Ministry has recommended the president reject a clemency plea filed by the only surviving gunman in the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people.

The gunman, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, is making his case to President Pranab Mukherjee after the Supreme Court upheld his death sentence in August.

A home ministry spokesman told reporters that Kasab's petition has been rejected by the ministry. A clemency by the president is Kasab's last option for mercy.

A Mumbai court convicted Kasab in 2010 on charges of murder, terrorism and waging war against India. He initially pleaded not guilty but later confessed to his involvement in the three-day siege in Mumbai in November 2008.

Kasab and nine other young, heavily-armed Pakistanis attacked luxury hotels, a Jewish center and a busy train station in India's financial capital. Many of the people killed in the attack were foreigners.

India has blamed the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba for the siege. It claims the attacks were carried out with state support from Pakistan — a charge Islamabad denies.