NEW DEHLI (Sputnik) – The mercy plea was Yakub Memon's last chance of avoiding the death penalty. He is to be hanged on Thursday morning, the very day he turns 53.
Memon was first convicted in 2007 by a Mumbai court for his role in plotting a series of blasts in the densely populated city of Mumbai on the western Indian coast. The terrorist attack left 257 people dead and was reportedly to avenge the deaths of Muslims in riots a few months earlier.
The Supreme Court upheld the verdict in 2013. A mercy petition filed on Memon's behalf by his brother was turned down by the Indian president in 2014.
