New Delhi, Jul 24 (FT) : AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday alleged that Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon is being hanged only because he belongs to a particular religion.
“The killers of Rajiv Gandhi and Beant Singh have the backing of political parties in Tamil Nadu and Punjab. Which political party is backing Yakub Memon? If they want to hang people they should not do it on the basis of religion. They cannot target religion,” said Owaisi.
“Two major political parties in Tamil Nadu are trying to prevent execution of Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan, all convicted in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. The government sat on their mercy petitions for many years, and ultimately their death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment” he added.
Memon, who is to be hanged on July 30, had last week filed a mercy petition to the Governor.
On July 27, 2007, Memon was sentenced to death by Justice (Retd.) Kode, who was then the special judge of the court set up under Terrorists and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act in Mumbai.
However, his sentence was upheld by a Supreme Court bench headed by then Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan on March 21, 2013.
On April 9 this year, a three-member bench headed by Justice A R Dave rejected his review plea.
President Pranab Mukherjee had also rejected his mercy petition.