[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide----INDIA

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 2


INDIA:

CBI seeks death penalty for IC-814 hijack accused


The CBI has approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court with a plea to
enhance the life sentence awarded to Abdul Latif, accused in the Indian
Airlines flight IC-814 hijacking case, to death penalty terming his
offence worse than the Parliament attack case.

The CBI approached the high court in Chandigarh recently after studying
the verdict of designated anti-hijacking court judge Inderjit Singh Walia
who had sentenced Latif and two others including a Nepalese national to
life imprisonment.

The CBI contends that Latif's crime was no less than Afzal Guru, who has
been sentenced to death in connection with the attack on Parliament on
December 13, 2001.

The petition has been filed and it will come up for hearing, CBI sources
said, adding that the offence of Latif was more serious in nature than
that of Afzal in the attack.

Latif along with Dilip Kumar Bhujel (Indian) and Yusuf Nepali (Nepalese
national) were sentenced to life by a court in Patiala in February this
year, eight years after the hijack of an Indian Airlines aircraft that
resulted in release of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar and 2 other
dreaded terrorists.

The 3 were convicted for criminal conspiracy to hijacking under the
Anti-Hijacking Act and also for criminal conspiracy to murder, attempt to
murder, kidnapping, wrongful confinement and criminal intimidation.

The judge in its order had said, "It has been proved that the accused
Indian nationals Latif and Bhujbal and Nepali of Nepal had provided
logistics support to the five hijackers on board the IC-814 plane and are
liable under Section 4 of the Anti-Hijacking Act of 1982."

(source: Press Trust of India)