Three to be hanged for giving help to attackers

THREE men were yesterday sentenced to hang for helping the suicide attackers who stormed India’s parliament a year ago, almost triggering a war with nuclear rival Pakistan.

Judge SN Dhingra sentenced the three Indians to death after finding them guilty of murder and waging war against India.

"They were inspired by Osama bin Laden and Masood Azhar, an ultra fundamentalist leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammed, a terrorist organisation based in Pakistan," Judge Dhingra said.

The defendants did not take part in the December 13, 2001 attack in New Delhi, when five suspected Islamic militants shot dead nine people before being killed by troops. But prosecutors said they had helped plan the assault and had helped with logistics.

"I give them death sentences for the attack. They are enemies of mankind. They deserve no leniency," the judge said in sentencing Syed Abdul Rahman Geelani, Mohammed Afzal and Shaukat Hussain Guru under India's Prevention of Terrorism Act.

Guru's wife was jailed for five years for failing to tell police about the plot. The defendants all Indian citizens had pleaded not guilty and their lawyers have said they will appeal. They can go to the High Court, the Supreme Court and the president.

When he convicted them on Monday, the judge said the men were part of a plan to kill Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani, who is also deputy prime minister.

They also wanted to hold MPs hostage in the parliament building, he said. "I hold them guilty of waging war against the country," he told the court.

India accused Pakistan's intelligence agency and Pakistan-based Islamic guerrillas of orchestrating the assault, which nearly triggered a war.

India sent hundreds of thousands of troops to its border with Pakistan in a stand-off that lasted almost 10 months. Islamabad denies any involvement.

The Indian government has said, however, that Pakistan's position is clear from the decision to free from jail the leaders of the two militant groups accused in the parliament attack, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.

They were released just days ahead of the Indian court verdict. Intense diplomatic pressure helped defuse tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals earlier this year.

The Indian government also alleged the plot involved Muslim Kashmiris who want the northern Indian state to be separated from India. After the sentencing, Guru, one of the convicts, told the court, "If asking for liberation for Kashmir is terrorism, then I'm a terrorist.

"I will be happy if I die for the cause of Kashmir," Guru said, then broke down in tears as he was led from the New Delhi court.

As the death sentences were announced, about 50 members of a Hindu nationalist group let off firecrackers in celebration outside.