Ajmal Kasab appeals against death penalty

By Rizwan Khatik - Wed Feb 01, 11:37 am

NEW DELHI: The lone surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Muhammad Ajmal Amir Kasab, began a Supreme Court appeal against his death sentence on Tuesday by claiming that he had not received a fair trial.

A lawyer read out a statement in court from Kasab, one of the 10 gunmen who laid siege to Mumbai in the attacks that lasted nearly three days and killed 166 people.

The 24-year-old has appealed for his death penalty to be overturned after he was convicted in 2010 for a series of crimes.

“I have been wrongly held guilty because I was denied a fair trial. I was denied a counsel,” Kasab, who was not in court on Tuesday, said in a statement read by his appeal lawyer Raju Ramachandran.

“The prosecution has failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the charges against me… I may be guilty of killing people and carrying out a terrorist act but I am not guilty of waging war against the state.”