Indian court to hear appeal by Mumbai attacks gunman

Lawyers for Kasab will seek to overturn the penalty imposed by a lower court earlier this year.

MUMBAI: An Indian court on Monday was to begin hearing an appeal against a death sentence handed to the sole surviving gunman of the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Lawyers for Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab will seek to overturn the penalty imposed by a lower court earlier this year for waging war on India, murder, attempted murder and terrorism offences.

They will open their arguments after the prosecution outlines why the verdict should be upheld. Confirmation of a death sentence by the state high court is required under Indian law.

Kasab, 23, was the only one of 10 heavily-armed gunmen linked to the banned, Pakistan-based Lashkar-i-Taiba (LeT) to survive the three-day assault on prime targets in India's financial capital that killed 166 people. He and an accomplice were responsible for the most bloody part of the attacks, killing 52 people at the city's main railway station and a number of senior police officers as they fled the scene.

Kasab is not due to attend the hearing at the Bombay High Court, which could last several months, but will follow proceedings via video-link from prison where he is being held in solitary confinement, lawyers said.