An anti-terrorism court in Delhi sentenced to death...

An anti-terrorism court in Delhi sentenced to death three men convicted of helping militants attack India's parliament in 2001. Mohammed Afzal, a 35-year-old fruit merchant, Shaukat Hussain and Abdul Rehman Geelani, a Delhi college teacher, were convicted on charges of waging war on the state and conspiracy to murder. The fourth defendant, Navjot or Afsan Guru, wife of Hussain, who was found guilty of "withholding information" from police, received five years imprisonment. The convictions and sentences can be appealed. Police say Afzal and Hussain are members of the Pakistan-backed militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad, fighting in Indian-administered Kashmir. Nine people were shot dead when five armed gunmen entered the grounds of parliament in Delhi in December 2001. All five attackers were shot dead by police. None of the accused took part in the attack, but prosecutors said they helped in the planning it. A recently-enacted anti-terrorism law views any aid to "terrorists" carrying out an attack as "terrorism". The accused collected explosives and committed murder, having "hatched a criminal conspiracy like war against India", Justice SN Dhingra announced in the court. "They had intentions to capture parliament and to kill the prime minister and home minister... they attacked parliament house armed with weapons rifles, grenades and one body bomb," the judge said. "If asking for the liberation of Kashmir is terrorism then I am a terrorist," the AFP news agency quoted Hussain as saying as he was being led out of the courtroom. Relations between India and Pakistan deteriorated after the attack, as they mobilised up to a million men along their common border, leading to international concern about a possible war. However both sides later pulled back their forces.