A man convicted of taking part in India's worst-ever attack, the 1993
bombings in Mumbai, has been hanged, Indian TV stations reported.
India's president and Supreme Court rejected last-ditch pleas to stay
the execution of Yakub Memon over his role in the bombings, clearing
the way for him to be hanged early on Thursday morning.
He was executed on his 53rd birthday at Nagpur jail in the western
state of Maharashtra, according to the NDTV and CNN-IBN news channels.
Lawyers and activists had petitioned on behalf of Memon to Supreme
Court Chief Justice H L Dattu after Indian President Pranab Mukherjee
rejected a clemency plea late on Wednesday.
His lawyers had argued to the Supreme Court that executions are only
to be carried out after seven days have passed following the rejection
of a mercy petition.
In March 1993, a series of bombs ripped through the capital of
Mumbai's financial district, killing at least 257 people and injuring a
thousand others.
The Bombay Stock Exchange, the offices of Air India and a luxury hotel were among about a dozen targets of the blasts.
The attack remains the most devastating attack on Indian soil and came after a series of Hindu-Muslim riots in Mumbai.
Of the 11 suspects sentenced in 2007 for their role in the
devastating attacks, Memon was the only one sentenced to death. He was
convicted for being "the driving spirit" behind the attacks.
Meanwhile, his brother 'Tiger' Memon and fellow alleged collaborator
Dawood Ibrahim are still believed to be hiding in Pakistan.
Executions are only rarely carried out in India, but President
Mukherjee has rejected a number of mercy pleas in the past three years,
ending a de facto eight-year moratorium.
The lone surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attacks was hanged in
2012, while a Kashmiri separatist was executed in New Delhi the
following year after being convicted of involvement in a deadly 2001
attack on the Indian parliament.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/07/india-executes-plotter-deadly-1993-bombings-mumbai-150730012554107.html
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