Correspondents in Mumbai | April 13
THE trial of the lone Islamist militant suspect captured by police during the Mumbai attacks is due to start on Wednesday, amid tight security and under close international scrutiny.
Mohammed Ajmal Amir Iman, also known as Kasab, is to make his first public appearance since being arrested on November 26, soon after 10 gunmen began an assault that left more than 160 dead and more than 300 others injured.
The 21-year-old Pakistani national, said to belong to the banned Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Toiba, faces charges including "waging war" against India, murder, attempted murder and kidnapping. He faces the death penalty if convicted.
The trial is being held before a single judge without a jury at a special court in Mumbai's Arthur Road jail because of the same security fears that led to all previous hearings being held by video-link or behind closed doors.
Proceedings have been delayed while workers reinforced the structure and reportedly built a bomb-proof tunnel from Iman's cell after he received death threats.
There was also uncertainty about whether he would even be represented in court after the home of his state-appointed lawyer, Anjali Waghmare, was attacked by irate Hindu radicals and she was denounced for taking on the case. She has since been given the highest level of police protection.
Iman, the nine dead gunmen and 35 other LET "terrorists" sought in connection with the attacks are said to have carried out a "heinous criminal conspiracy" against the city and people of Mumbai and India, according to the charge sheet.
Two other men are also on trial, Indian nationals Fahim Ansari, 35, and Sabauddin Ahmed, 24, who are said to have provided the group with invaluable logistical support before the attacks.
Iman was arrested as he and an accomplice tried to flee after planting a bomb in a taxi.
Meenakshi Ganguly, from Human Rights Watch in Mumbai, said since 26 foreigners had been killed in the attacks, the case was assured of international attention.
HRW has already expressed concern about the delay in Iman getting legal representation and over calls, including from some senior lawyers, that no Indian counsel should agree to defend him.
"The fair-trial issue is the most important thing," Mr Ganguly told Agence France-Presse.
"It's important to understand that there are reasons why the law exists and the law is followed."
Prosecutors say they have ample evidence that "undoubtedly and conclusively" links the attacks to Pakistan, including mobile and satellite phone communication between the gunmen and their LET "handlers".
Iman's DNA and fingerprints were found on items retrieved from the hijacked Indian fishing trawler the gunmen used to get to the Mumbai coast, according to a version of the charge sheet released in February.
Police and security experts say Iman was ripe for recruitment by Islamist militants. "He fits the profile if you look at the terrorists recruited by Lashkar-e-Toiba," said Wilson John, senior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi and a specialist in extremist groups.
Source: The Australian
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