Indian court sentences five to death over 2006 Mumbai train bombs

An Indian court sentenced five men to death on Wednesday for a series of bomb blasts that ripped through packed trains in Mumbai in 2006, killing nearly 200 people. Another seven found guilty of involvement in the attacks in India’s financial capital were sentenced to life imprisonment by the special court, their defence lawyer told reporters. The 12 men were convicted of murder, conspiracy and waging war against the country over the coordinated series of attacks that killed 189 people and wounded more than 800.

We still believe they have been framed and the court has relied on confessions and not on mitigating evidence.

Defence lawyer Wahab Khan

Seven blasts ripped through the suburban trains during the evening rush hour in July 2006. The bombs were packed into pressure cookers and then placed in bags and hidden under newspapers and umbrellas in the trains. In all, police charged 30 people over the bombings including 13 Pakistani nationals, who along with four Indian suspects have yet to be arrested. Wednesday’s ruling is believed to be the largest number of death sentences handed down in one go since 2006, when 11 people were sentenced to hang for perpetrating deadly bomb blasts in Mumbai in 1993. Ten of those sentences were later commuted to life in prison, however.

Asia-Pacific Mumbai train