- Title: INDIA: Locals in Agra city call for death sentence for Mumbai attacks accused
- Date: 4th May 2010
- Summary: AGRA, UTTAR PRADESH, INDIA (MAY 03, 2010) (ANI) GROUP OF MUSLIM MEN PRAYING INSIDE THE MOSQUE A MAN SAYING PRAYERS ALOUD MEN SHOUTING SLOGANS DEMANDING DEATH SENTENCE FOR MUMBAI ATTACKS ACCUSED, MOHAMMAD AJMAL KASAB PROTESTORS HOLDING KASAB'S EFFIGY PROTESTORS BURNING THE EFFIGY PROTESTORS SHOUTING SLOGANS AND KICKING THE BURNING EFFIGY (SOUNDBITE) (Hindi) RAHISUDDIN, A LOCAL MUSLIM, SAYING: "Our country is a peace-loving country. On the fateful night of the Mumbai attacks, on 26/11, all the militants were killed. However, Ajmal Kasab, however, was caught alive. He should also have been killed by the government that very day. There is no place for militancy in our country." A MAN HOLDING THE BURNING EFFIGY
- Embargoed: 19th May 2010 01:08
- Keywords:
- Location: India
- Country: India
- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
- Reuters ID: LVA4ZV2HB71OWI0WWIVHE8TDWAYI
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3
- Story Text: Scores of Muslim men on Monday (May 03) gathered outside a mosque in India's northern Agra city and staged a protest demanding that death sentence be pronounced on the lone surviving gunman of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Mohammad Ajmal Kasab.
The protestors shouted slogans and burnt Kasab's effigy outside the mosque.
Rahisuddin, one of the protestors said that any person who tries to disrupt the peace of the country should be given nothing less than death sentence.
"Our country is a peace-loving country. On the fateful night of the Mumbai attacks, on 26/11, all the militants were killed. However, Ajmal Kasab, however, was caught alive. He should also have been killed by the government that very day. There is no place for militancy in our country," Rahisuddin said.
The group also prayed at Markas Sabri Tara Saha Chishti's mosque that the death penalty be given to Kasab.
The protest is being staged on the day when an Indian court would deliver a verdict in the trial of Kasab, the lone surviving Pakistani militant who perpetrated the 2008 Mumbai attacks with other militants.
Kasab is charged with 86 offences, including waging war on India and murder. He could face the gallows if found guilty.
He was caught on tape strolling through Mumbai's main train station carrying an AK-47 rifle and a knapsack on his back, prosecutors say. Nearly 60 people were gunned down in the crowded station.
Kasab, wounded by police and arrested on the first night of the attacks, initially admitted his role and then said he had been framed.
At least 166 people, including foreigners and some of India's wealthy business elites, were killed by 10 Pakistani gunmen in a three-day rampage through some of Mumbai's best known landmarks, including two luxury hotels and a Jewish centre.
Two Indian nationals accused of being members of the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and conducting reconnaissance in Mumbai before the attack, are also on trial.
The Mumbai attack prompted New Delhi to break off peace talks with Pakistan, saying Islamabad must first act against militants operating from its soil, including the LeT, of which Kasab is accused of being a member.
India had charged 38 people in connection with the attack, most of them living in Pakistan. - Copyright Holder: ANI (India)
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