FRIDAY, JULY 31, 2015 Egypt court Cameron’s ‘swarm Former postpones of migrants’ President Kalam Jazeera retrial statement faces buried in verdict11 heavy14 criticism south16 India MUMBAI: Indian police guard a road leading to the residence of Yakub Memon, a key plotter of the Mumbai bomb attacks which killed hundreds of people in 1993. — AFP Mumbai bomb plotter Memon hanged Security tight near targets at sensitive areas MUMBAI: India executed convicted bomb Anti-terror legislation Former Supreme Court judge Harjit Singh by 22 years, but ultimately I will not be satis- plotter Yakub Memon yesterday for conspir- Security was tight near the targets and at Bedi had also said reports that Memon co- fied until Tiger and Dawood are punished ing in the nation’s deadliest attack, a series of sensitive areas across Mumbai yesterday, with operated with investigators and returned too,” the 58-year-old told AFP. blasts that killed hundreds in Mumbai more heavily armed police outside Memon’s former voluntarily from Pakistan, where he fled, Amnesty India described the execution as than two decades ago. Memon was hanged at home and at a cemetery where the body was should have been taken into account when “cruel and inhuman”. “It is a misguided Nagpur jail in the western state of taken for burial late in the afternoon. Memon hearing his appeal. Others pointed out that attempt to prevent terrorism, and a disap- Maharashtra on his 53rd birthday after India’s and two of his brothers were convicted in one of his brothers, Tiger Memon, was pointing use of the criminal justice system as president and Supreme Court rejected 11th- 2006 by a specially-designated court using alleged to have masterminded the attacks, a tool for retribution,” executive director hour appeals for clemency. controversial anti-terror legislation that was along with Mumbai gang boss Dawood Aakar Patel said in a statement. Eight mem- “It is complete. Yakub Memon was hanged introduced after the 1993 attacks and is no Ibrahim. Both have been on the run since bers of the Memon family were charged over today at 7:00 am (0130 GMT),” Nagpur police longer on the statute books. 1993. the attacks and all denied any role in the sub-inspector RV Halami told AFP. Memon, a The Terrorist and Disruptive Activities atrocity. former accountant, was convicted of plotting (Prevention) Act lapsed after two years and Pre-dawn drama They left for Dubai in the days before a series of co-ordinated bomb attacks that was never revived, with activists accusing Lawyers for Memon made a last-ditch the 1993 bombings, but all except Tiger rocked India’s financial capital Mumbai in the government of using it to harass mercy petition to Supreme Court Chief were arrested when they returned to India March 1993, killing 257 people and injuring Muslims. Memon was the only one of 11 Justice HL Dattu after Indian President the following year. Memon’s father died around 700 more. The Bombay Stock people found guilty over the atrocity to have Pranab Mukherjee rejected a clemency plea during the long-running legal proceedings, Exchange, the offices of Air India and a luxury his death sentence upheld on appeal. The late Wednesday. But the court dismissed it in three were acquitted and three others are hotel were among about a dozen targets of others had their sentences commuted to life a pre-dawn hearing, paving the way for serving life in prison, including Yakub’s sis- the blasts. They were believed to have been imprisonment. He denied any involvement Memon’s execution shortly afterwards. ter-in-law, Rubina Memon. The attack also staged by Mumbai’s Muslim-dominated in the blasts during a staggered trial and Kirti Ajmera, who was severely injured in embroiled Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt, who underworld in retaliation for anti-Muslim vio- appeal process that bitterly divided opinion the bombing at the stock exchange, wel- is serving time for buying weapons from lence that had killed more than 1,000 people in India and led to calls from rights activists comed the hanging. “I’m happy that justice gangsters accused of orchestrating the a few months earlier. and an ex-judge for his life to be spared. has been done, although it has been delayed bombings.—AFP .