Mumbai Terrorists Sentenced to Death

Two men and a woman, convicted for killing at least 52 people in the 2003 Mumbai terror attacks were sentenced to death.

Photo: Mumbai Terrorists Sentenced to Death

Haneef Sayyed, 46, and his 43-year-old wife Fahmeeda were found guilty of planting a bomb at the Gateway of India, a popular tourist destination in the city.

Ashrat Ansari, 32, was found guilty of planting a second bomb at the crowded Zaveri Bazaar, The Press Association reports.

Judge M.R. Puranik told a special anti-terrorism court that Hanif Sayed, his wife and Ashrat Ansari “should be hanged by the neck until dead” for murder, criminal conspiracy and terrorism, Agence France-Presse reported, Bloomberg reports.

Ujjwal Nikam, the public prosecutor, said he welcomed the court's decision to impose the death penalty.

The three had pleaded not guilty and their lawyers said they still plan to appeal the guilty verdict to the state high court.

Investigators had said all three were members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a banned, Pakistan-based militant group formed in the 1980s — with the alleged blessing of Pakistani intelligence — to sow trouble in the disputed Kashmir region. The three denied involvement with the group.

Indian investigators have also blamed Lashkar-e-Taiba for the last year's attacks in Mumbai in which armed gunmen killed 166 people in a three-day rampage, The Associated Press reports.