Mumbai gunman sentenced to death

The lone surviving member of the November 2008 attack in Mumbai that killed 166 people was sentenced to death Thursday after his conviction earlier this week on 86 counts, including murder, conspiracy and waging war against India.

Pakistani national Ajmal Amir Kasab, 22, was seen by several witnesses and recorded on closed-circuit video attacking a Mumbai railway station with a smirk, prompting Indian media to dub him the “smiling assassin.”

India’s financial center was held hostage for 60 hours as 10 gunmen, allegedly trained in Pakistan, fanned out, hitting luxury hotels, a hospital and a Jewish center.

“The judgment is a message to Pakistan that they should not export terror to India,” said P. Chidambaram, India’s home minister, after the conviction. “If they do, and the terrorists are apprehended, we will bring them to justice.”

The acquittal of two Indians accused as accomplices, Fahim Ansari and Sabahuddin Ahmed, was greeted with disbelief in some quarters, although other observers said it proved the fairness of India’s justice system.

“I am satisfied but sad that two of the accused, Ansari and Sabahuddin, have been acquitted,” said Ujjwal Nikam, the public prosecutor. “I will definitely challenge the verdict.”

Indian police alleged that the two men delivered maps to operatives of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistani militant group to which Kasab and the other attackers allegedly belonged. But in acquitting them, the court found the evidence “poor in quantity and quality” and noted that better maps were available on Google.

Imtiaz Gul, chairman of Islamabad’s Center for Research and Security Studies, said the guilty verdict could stir up resentment in Pakistan among groups sympathetic to people like Kasab. And the fact that the two Indians were acquitted belies a Pakistani view that the attack couldn’t have happened without local handlers.

Kasab at one point confessed to all charges, revealed details of the operation and requested the death penalty. Then he retracted his confession, saying he was being framed.

mark.magnier@latimes.com