India’s top court rejects appeal of Bombay bombing convict

NEW DELHI:

India's Supreme Court threw out on Tuesday a last-minute appeal by Yakub Memon, the only person to be condemned to death for a series of bombings in Mumbai in 1993, clearing the way for his execution this month after two decades in jail.

He is due to be hanged on July 30. The blasts in March 1993 ripped through Mumbai, then known as Bombay, killing at least 257 people at separate landmarks, including the Bombay Stock Exchange, a popular cinema and two crowded markets.

Police consider Memon's brother ‘Tiger’ Memon and mafia don Dawood Ibrahim to be the main masterminds behind the attack, carried out to avenge the destruction of an ancient mosque by Hindu zealots in 1992. Both remain in hiding.

Others originally charged in relation to the attack had their sentences reduced to life imprisonment in 2013. But Memon was found by the court to be the ‘driving spirit’ behind the attacks, and his 2007 death sentence was upheld.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 22^nd, 2015.