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Mumbai Bombing Suspect Hanged

Mumbai Bombing Suspect Hanged
Mumbai Bombing Suspect Hanged

The man considered to be the mastermind behind coordinated bomb attacks in Mumbai in 1993 that left 257 people dead was executed early on Thursday.

Yakub Memon was hanged at a prison in the western state of Maharashtra at around 6:30 a.m. local time, Indian Home Ministry spokesman Kuldeep Dhatwalia said, CNN reported.

In the hours before the execution was carried out, a group of prominent lawyers contacted India’s chief justice to seek a postponement of Memon’s hanging for two weeks, a day after Indian President Pranab Mukherjee rejected a final plea for mercy.

In an unprecedented move, India’s Supreme Court held a special early-morning session to discuss the request before rejecting it, Dhatwalia said.

He was originally sentenced to death in 2007 as a key conspirator behind 12 blasts that ripped through several hotels, marketplaces and buildings in Mumbai on March 12, 1993.

Memom died on his 53rd birthday. He had repeatedly denied any involvement in the blasts.

According to the Indian prosecution team, those assaults were ordered by the local underworld in revenge for the demolition of a 16th-century mosque in northern India by Hindu zealots.

The mosque’s destruction triggered a wave of religious violence that left hundreds dead.

 

Financialtribune.com