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Roundup: Indian apex court rejects last mercy plea by convicted terrorist in Mumbai bombings

Xinhua, July 29, 2015 Adjust font size:

India's Supreme Court Wednesday rejected Yakub Memon's last-ditch plea to stay his execution, scheduled for Thursday. The 53-year-old was sentenced to death for his role in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts in which nearly 260 people were killed.

Indian President Pranab Mukherjee also virtually turned down Memon's newest request for mercy by referring the dossier to the home ministry, which would follow the court's rule.

After a daylong hearing, a three-judge bench upheld Memon's death penalty, rejecting his lawyer's argument that proper procedure was not correctly followed in disposing of his curative petition by the apex court some days back as well as the death warrant issued in April.

Memon's lawyer had told the court that the death warrant is " illegal" as it was issued in April, before he had exhausted all his legal options. His curative petition had not been heard by the Supreme Court then and it was rejected last week.

However, the apex court turned down all the arguments put forward by the terrorist's lawyer.

The governor of Maharashtra also rejected his mercy plea. saying the law would take its course.

Memon, the younger brother of one of India's most wanted terrorists "Tiger Memon," would be executed at a jail in the western state of Maharashtra's city of Nagpur on Thursday at 07:00 a.m..

Earlier in the day, Memon filed a fresh mercy plea with Indian President Mukherjee, who had rejected it last year.

The president has sent the fresh mercy petition to the home ministry.

The Press Trust of India quoted unnamed sources as saying the ministry is likely to advise the president about the legal position as the Supreme Court has again refused to stay the execution and Maharashtra governor has also rejected his mercy petition.

The terrorist was sentenced to death for his role in the serial blasts in Mumbai, along with 10 others.

Except Memon, the clemency pleas of others were all accepted and their death sentences were commuted to life in jail.

Memon's brother Tiger Memon and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, the two main accused in the case, have been on the run since the deadly terror attacks. They are believed to be hiding in a Gulf nation or Pakistan.

Memon had claimed he was suffering from schizophrenia since 1996 and has remained behind bars for nearly 20 years, much more than a person serving life term has to spend in jail.

At least 12 coordinated blasts rocked Mumbai on March 12, 1993, leaving 257 dead and over 700 injured, in one of the worst terrorist attacks in India. Endi