25 year old Pakistani, Ajmal Kasab was hanged at 7:30 a.m. at Yerwada jail in Pune in the western state of Maharashtra, India, on Wednesday the 21st of November 2012. Maharashtra Home Minister, R.R. Patil, told reporters in Mumbai afterwards “His execution is a fitting tribute to the victims of Mumbai attacks.”
Kasab was one of ten gunmen who laid siege to the city of Mumbai, an action that began on November the 26th, 2008, and lasted nearly three days. It was the deadliest terrorist attack in India since independence, killing 161 people and wounding at least 202. The heavily armed gunmen stormed targets in Mumbai including luxury hotels, a Jewish centre, a hospital and a busy train station.
The other nine Islamic terrorists were killed by police shoot-outs. Kasab was the only one captured, being arrested at 1.30 a.m. on the 27th of November. Kasab was lodged in the Arthur Jail Road in Mumbai ever since his arrest. He was moved to Yerwada jail in Pune in secret two days before his execution.
Kasab was sentenced to death on the 6th of May 2010 after he was found guilty of multiple charges, including waging war against India, murder and terrorist acts. He pleaded not guilty at his trial but later confessed, admitting he was one of the gunmen.
At his trial in 2009, the prosecution produced fingerprint, DNA, eyewitness and TV footage evidence showing him opening fire and throwing grenades at Mumbai’s main railway station. When the proceedings began, Kasab at first appeared relaxed, joking or smiling at lawyers and reporters. But he seemed increasingly sullen, withdrawn and even asleep as the trial progressed, prompting fears for his mental state. He showed no emotion in the dock when the verdict was handed down.
His appeal was heard by the Bombay High Court and dismissed on the 21st of February 2011. The Indian Supreme Court gave Kasab a stay on the 10th of October 2011, but on August the 29th 2012, upheld his death sentence.
On November the 5th 2012 India’s President Pranab Mukherjee rejected his plea for clemency.

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