56 people killed
Indian court issues 38 death sentences after 2008 bombings
People in India celebrate the death sentences
© SAM PANTHAKY / AFP
In India, a court sentenced 38 people to death for a series of attacks in 2008. It is the first time in the country that so many people have been sentenced to death in one case.
A court in India has sentenced 38 people to death in connection with a series of bombings in 2008. Eleven other people received life imprisonment, prosecutor Amit Patil told reporters on Friday. This is the first time in India that so many people have been sentenced to death in one case. Those convicted can appeal to higher courts.
A total of 49 defendants had already been found guilty on February 8 of this year of murder and forming a criminal organization. A total of almost 80 people had been charged with the series of attacks. According to prosecutor Patel, 28 were acquitted.
20 bombs killed 56 people in Ahmedabad
The marathon process lasted almost ten years. More than 1,100 witnesses were heard, and there were repeated delays.
During the attacks in July 2008, around 20 bombs killed 56 people and injured more than 200 within around 70 minutes. The bombs went off at various locations in the city of Ahmedabad, Gujarat state, including buses and cars and two hospitals where injured people were being taken. The militant Islamist group Indian Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the attacks in emails to several media outlets.
Kabul Airport – Pictures from the last bastion of the West
9 images
India rocked by series of attacks in 2008
In the state of Gujarat there has been repeated violence between the Hindu majority population and Muslims, the largest religious minority. According to police, the suspects planned the bombings in response to riots in 2002 that killed more than a thousand people, mostly Muslims.
India was shaken several times in 2008 by serious attacks to which the Indian Mujahideen claimed responsibility. Dozens of people died in the capital New Delhi and in the tourist city of Jaipur.
On November 26, 2008, 166 people were killed in a coordinated attack on luxury hotels, a train station, a tourist café and a Jewish center in Mumbai. The Pakistani Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was blamed for the series of attacks.