Mumbai Terrorist Convicted On Terror Charges In Deadly Attacks

One of the Mumbai terrorists was convicted today in the deadly attacks at various Mumbai hotels and locations, including a Chabad house. However, two co-conspirators were found not guilty of assisting the terrorists in their plot:

Pakistani terrorist, Ajmal Amir Kasab, charged with the deaths of 166 Indians and foreigners, has been pronounced guilty of all charges by a special court in Mumbai. The two Indians, who were named as co-accused in the case-- Faheem Ansari and Sabauddin Shaikh, have been acquitted.

The argument on quantum of sentence to Kasab will be held tomorrow.

Kasab has been convicted on all 86 charges against him. He was found guilty or murder and waging war against the nation, the court said while delivering the judgment.

"You have been found guilty of waging war against India, and killing people at CST (train station), killing government officials and abetting the other nine terrorists," Judge M.L. Tahaliyani said as he announced his verdict. They were the most serious charges laid against Kasab, a 22-year-old Pakistani who was arrested after the Mumbai siege.

The conspiracy was hatched in Pakistan, the judge said.

The two Indian co-accused were set free because the evidence against them was weak, the court ruled. Kasab had said that the duo supplied maps of Mumbai to LeT bosses. Thus, they gave logistical support to carry out the attack. But the judge, punching a hole in the prosecution’s argument, said better maps were available on Google than the crude drawings Kasab claimed had been supplied by Ansari and Sabauddin.

The terror attacks, which included attacking several swanky hotels, a Chabad House, and other locations around the city killed 173 people and wounded another 300 and did significant damage to two hotels. The Pakistani terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was behind the attacks.