Afzal hanging 'politically motivated gimmick': S.A.R. Geelani

New Delhi, Feb. 9 (ANI): Taking on the government over the hanging of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, Professor S. A. R. Geelani on Saturday termed the decision as a 'cruel and politically motivated gimmick'.

Geelani, who was also awarded capital punishment in the Parliament attack case by the trial court but acquitted by the Supreme Court in October 2003, said that the decision to hang Guru is a completely biased and utterly atrocious step.

"Whatever has happened is utterly atrocious. It has been so cruel that they did not even inform the family, even his wife, who had filed the mercy petition in 2006. She was even not informed that her petition has been rejected," said Geelani.

"This is nothing but a politically motivated decision. Earlier, the then Home Minister P. Chidambaram had said that the government will follow a queue, but how Afzal case jumped now. It is not a democracy but mobocracy," added Geelani.

Alleging the police and investigative agencies of fabrication of evidence against Afzal, Geelani said that the whole system is biased and he had faced the heat of this bias.

"I was also given death penalty by the trial court. The police have fabricated the evidence, forged the documents. The whole system is biased. This man, who has been systematically denied justice from day one till now, was not given the very basic right to defend himself by filling a review petition in the Supreme Court," said Geelani.

Guru was convicted of conspiracy in the December 2001 attack on Parliament and was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court in 2004.

On 13th December 2001, five heavily-armed gunmen stormed the Parliament complex and opened indiscriminate fire, killing nine persons.

They included five Delhi Police personnel, a woman Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) official, two Parliament watch and ward staff and a gardener.

Guru was arrested by five hours after the attack from a bus stand in the national capital. (ANI)