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Death for Indian parliament raid plotters
NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- Three men convicted of aiding a deadly terrorist attack on Indian parliament last year which brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war have been sentenced to death. A special anti-terrorism court imposed the death penalty on the three after they were found guilty of "waging war" against India, which is a capital offense. The men, all Indian nationals from Kashmir, did not take part in the December 13 suicide attack last year in which five suspected Muslim militants -- armed with AK-47s and explosives -- stormed the parliament complex in New Delhi, killing nine guards before they were gunned down by security forces. The three men though were convicted under India's Prevention of Terrorism Act of plotting and providing logistical support for the raid. Sentenced to death were Syed Geelani, an Arabic Studies professor in New Delhi , Mohammed Afzal and Shaukat Hussain Guru -- all Indian nationals from Kashmir. A fourth suspect -- Guru's wife, Ehsaan Guru, aka Navjot Sandhu -- was convicted on the lesser charge of concealing the plan from authorities and was sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment. The suspects were the first found guilty under India's controversial new anti-terrorism laws. Defense lawyers have promised to appeal, saying the death penalty is barbaric and irreversible. They have one month to file the appeal. Afzal, is accused of being the pointman in New Delhi for Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based militant group fighting for Kashmir's independence or merger with Pakistan. Police say Jaish-e-Mohammed and another group, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, carried out the strike.
The attack almost led to war with neighboring nuclear foe Pakistan. India blamed Pakistan's intelligence agency and Pakistani Islamic guerrillas of orchestrating the assault. New Delhi sent hundreds of thousands of troops to its border with Pakistan in a standoff that lasted nearly 10 months. Islamabad has denied any involvement. In handing down the verdict on Monday, Judge S.N. Dhingra said the three were part of a plan to assassinate Prime Minster Atal Behari Vajpayee and Home Minister L. K. Advani, now deputy prime minister. They also wanted to hold politicians hostage in the parliament building, the court found. "I hold them guilty of waging war against the country," said Dhingra, convicting the men -- Syed Abdul Rahman Geelani, Mohammed Afzal and Shaukat Hussain Guru. "I give them death sentences for the attack resulting in the deaths of nine persons," the judge said. The death penalty is rare in India and all death sentences must go to a higher court to be reviewed and confirmed. -- CNN's Ram Ramgopal contributed to this report
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