Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09MUMBAI304
2009-07-23 05:03:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Consulate Mumbai
Cable title:  

IMPLICATIONS OF KASAB'S CONFESSION IN TERRORIST CASE

Tags:  ASEC PTER PGOV PHUM KDEM 
pdf how-to read a cable
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OO RUEHAST RUEHCI RUEHDBU RUEHLH RUEHNEH RUEHPW
DE RUEHBI #0304/01 2040503
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 230503Z JUL 09
FM AMCONSUL MUMBAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7339
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI IMMEDIATE 8576
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD IMMEDIATE 0834
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 2563
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MUMBAI 000304 

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ASEC PTER PGOV PHUM KDEM
SUBJECT: IMPLICATIONS OF KASAB'S CONFESSION IN TERRORIST CASE
(AMENDED)

REF: A. NEW DELHI 1508

B. MUMBAI 169

MUMBAI 00000304 001.2 OF 002


UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MUMBAI 000304

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ASEC PTER PGOV PHUM KDEM
SUBJECT: IMPLICATIONS OF KASAB'S CONFESSION IN TERRORIST CASE
(AMENDED)

REF: A. NEW DELHI 1508

B. MUMBAI 169

MUMBAI 00000304 001.2 OF 002



1. (SBU) Summary: On July 20, Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab, the
lone surviving terrorist from the November 26 attack on Mumbai,
changed his plea to guilty, and confessed his role in the
attacks. In a four-hour address to the court, Kasab detailed
his involvement in the attacks, including the identification of
Pakistani and Indian co-conspirators. The court has yet to
announce if it will accept Kasab's plea and legal experts were
quick to note discrepancies in this most recent confession from
his earlier confession, which he recanted. Implications for the
prosecution of others involved in the planning of the attack are
as yet unclear, but his statement cannot be used as direct
evidence against other co-conspirators. While his exact
motivations are unclear, it appears that his confession and
guilty plea may be the best way for his to avoid the death
penalty, where the evidence is strongly against him. End
Summary.



DETAILS OF THE CONFESSION




2. (U) On July 20, Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone
surviving terrorist from the November 26 attack on Mumbai, made
a surprise confession and pled guilty to the charges against
him. Kasab provided a four-hour detailed account of the
planning and execution of the attack, including how he joined
the terrorist training camp, identifying his Lashkar-e-Taiba
(LeT) handlers such as Hafiz Mohammed Saeed and Zaki-ur-Rehman
Lakhvi, his journey by sea from Pakistan aboard four different
vessels, and his actions in Mumbai. Kasab's confession is
reported in detail by local media:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS-India -Mujhe-gunah-k
abool-hai/articleshow/4801037.cms.





INDIAN CO-CONSPIRATOR NAMED




3. (SBU) For the first time, Kasab identified an Indian
national, Abu Jundal, as a co-conspirator. He claimed that Abu
Jundal was at the terrorist training camp in Pakistan, and
served as his Hindi teacher and one of his LeT handlers. The
prosecutor, Ujjwal Nikam dismissed this portion of Kasab's
testimony, alleging it was offered to mislead the investigation.
However, the Times of India (ToI) quoted an unnamed security

official as saying Jundal "has been one of the most-wanted
leaders and we have been trying to track him down for the past
15 years." The report said Jundal was originally from Hyderabad
where he was affiliated with Islamic extremists and was
recruited by the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
ToI reported that Indian security sources previously identified
Jundal as having played a critical role in the Indian Mujahideen
(IM) attacks on Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Delhi and other places across
the country, and indicated that he may have been the link to
terrorist elements in India who provided reconnaissance and
logistical support for the attack on Mumbai.



WHY CONFESS NOW?




4. (SBU) After 65 days of trial and the testimony of 134
witnesses, Kasab's sudden confession took the court, the
prosecutor, and his own attorney by surprise. Special Judge
M.L. Tahilyani questioned Kasab to determine if his confession
had been coerced, but Kasab responded, "Initially, Pakistan had
not accepted my nationality. Now that they have, I am
confessing." Kasab refused to disclose how he came to know that
Pakistan acknowledged him as a Pakistani citizen, a point of
interest to the court as Kasab had been denied access to any
reading material and was kept apart from the rest of the jail
population. (Note: In its July 14 dossier regarding its
investigation into the Mumbai attacks, Pakistan acknowledged
Kasab as Pakistani. On July 19, the media reported the details
of the dossier which had been leaked. That Kasab knew this fact
suggests that someone broached the media black out the court had

MUMBAI 00000304 002.2 OF 002


imposed on Kasab. End note.)




5. (SBU) If Kasab's trial ends now, the confession blocks the
testimony of Federal Bureau of Investigation experts who
interviewed Kasab shortly after his arrest, and the testimony of
FBI officials and communications technology experts concerning
GPS evidence used to track Kasab's path to India and identify
the location of the terrorist training camp. (Note: LEGATT in
New Delhi is requesting a transcript of the confession to review
it in further detail. End note.)




6. (SBU) The court must first decide whether to accept the
plea, and if accepted, must determine the punishment. Parvez
Memon, a criminal attorney in Mumbai, told Congenoff that
Kasab's only hope to avoid the death penalty was to plead
guilty. His confession also sought to mitigate his culpability
for the deaths of police. In his confession, Kasab said that
his partner, Abu Ismail, killed Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad
Chief Hemant Karkare, Additional Commissioner Ashok Kamte, and
another senior police official. He blamed another team member,
Abu Shoaib, for the murder of the boat navigator, Amar Singh
Solanki, which occurred en route to Mumbai. Kasab also sought
to exculpate himself from the death of policeman Tukaram Ombale,
claiming his own AK-47 had already been snatched from him by the
policemen who pounced on him. "I did not get a chance to fire.
I heard a lot of firing. The next thing I knew I was in the
hospital." Kasab said. These exculpatory claims contrast with
the confession he had originally given at the time of his
arrest, which was subsequently withdrawn when Kasab entered his
not guilty plea to the court at the start of the trial.



IMPLICATIONS FOR PROSECUTION OF CO-CONSPIRATORS




7. (SBU) The implications of this confession on the
prosecution of co-conspirators in India or in Pakistan are as
yet unclear. A legal source told Congenoff that the confession
was taken under oath before a judge, making it valid as
corroborating evidence against the two co-conspirators under
trial with Kasab, but, the source said, the testimony could not
be used as direct evidence. Indian jurisprudence, as in
America, generally requires the right to cross examine
witnesses, making Kasab's testimony in this case useless in
other prosecutions if he is not presented as a witness in those
trials. (Note: Legal contacts could not opine whether this
would also be the case for trials in Pakistan. End note.)
Further, if the death penalty is exacted against Kasab before he
can testify in those cases, his confession may be unusable as
evidence.



DEFENSE CLAIMS RIGHT TO AN ATTORNEY ABRIDGED




8. (SBU) In addition to the complications added by the
confession, Kasab's attorney, Abbas Kazmi, complained to the
court that meetings he had with his client were always in the
presence of jail officials, denying Kasab the right to
confidential communications with his attorney. Further, Kazmi
said that his visits with his client were limited to 15 minutes
per day, hardly sufficient to fully brief his client on the
charges, the legal implications, or to plan a trial strategy.




9. (SBU) Comment: Most legal observers in Mumbai agree that
Kasab's turnaround is an effort to avoid the death penalty, and
to credit the most heinous acts of their terror spree to his
dead co-conspirators. Throughout his public statements, Kasab
has never espoused jihadist ideology; to the contrary, he sought
to exculpate himself from direct blame for several deaths.
Also, by pointing the finger at the ISI and Indian Mujahideen,
Kasab has increased his value as a source of information for
India's security experts, helping to ensure his survival. This
guilty plea has come as a relief to many of the victims of the
attacks, who are hopeful that justice will be meted out sooner
than later. End Comment.
FOLMSBEE