By IANS
Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) : Militant group Al Umma founder Syed Ahmed Basha, general secretary Mohammed Ansari and a third person, Ozir, were Wednesday given multiple life terms while three others also got life imprisonment for the 1998 serial blasts here in which 58 people were killed.
Basha, who was prime accused in the terror attack and found guilty of conspiracy and transporting bombs for the series of 13 blasts, has been sentenced by the sessions court to double life imprisonment plus three years rigorous imprisonment to run concurrently.
Special judge K. Uthirapathi also gave general secretary of the Al Umma group Ansari double life imprisonment as well as seven seven-year sentences, two nine-year sentences and one three-year sentence to run concurrently.
The third person to be sentenced was Tajudin, who has been given one life imprisonment and three years rigorous imprisonment.
Accused number four Nawab Khan has been given a life term, two seven-year sentences and two three-year sentences.
The fifth accused, Basith, has got life, five seven–year sentences and one three-year sentence.
The sixth accused Ozir has been given four life terms, nine seven-year sentences and seven nine-year sentences.
Ten prisoners were brought to the courtroom Wednesday morning. All were smiling as the judge began the proceedings — the final pronouncement of punishments for those convicted of the blasts that occurred on Feb 14, 1998, a day when the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) L.K. Advani was scheduled to address an election rally here.
There was no remorse as the judge read out the sentences.
Basha said after the sentence was pronounced: “Muslims are being increasingly victimised in Hindu India. It is a matter of national shame that this kind of sentencing is happening by which not only prisoners like us but also our families are being affected.
“The Hindu right wing has taken over the mass opinion against minorities.”
An angry Basith said: “Muslims are being victimised. Try withdrawing the security of people like Advani and Modi, our people know how to tackle and punish them for their crimes.”
Ansari just told the court: “It’s a shame on the nation.”
Defence counsel Thirumalai Rajan raised the issue of appeal, when the judge said that the copies of the judgement would be available “exactly six hours after the last sentence is pronounced”.
The blasts, which occurred between 3.30 p.m. and 7 p.m., killed 58 people and injured more than 250 with property loss estimated at more than Rs.1 billion. Advani had later claimed that a human bomb was present at the rally site and blew himself up after a police chase.
A total of 166 people were charged in the case under various charges of conspiracy and murder. Of these, eight people, including the Kerala-based People’s Democratic Party leader Abdul Nasser Maudani, were acquitted.
The trial began in March 2002. On Aug 1, the judge began awarding the sentences one by one and released 76 who had already been in jail for seven years and more.
Basha had officially set up the Al Ummah in 1993, the year after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.
In August 1993, the outfit was blamed for an attack on the RSS office in Chennai in which 11 people were killed. Basha and 15 others were arrested under the National Security Act and the anti-terror TADA act but the DMK government freed them in 1997.
In November the same year, Coimbatore was hit by communal riots, following the killing of a policeman by Al Umma activists. Eighteen Muslim youths were killed and shops belonging to Muslims were ransacked.
Three months later, in February 1998, the serial blasts, considered a revenge for the riots, ripped through this city.