December 17, 2002	Tuesday	Shawwal 12, 1423

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NEW DELHI, Dec 16: An Indian anti-terrorism court on Monday convicted four people, including a New Delhi college lecturer, over last December’s attack on the parliament building.

Three of those found guilty, including the Arabic lecturer, were charged with attempting to kill the prime minister, the interior minister and lawmakers by helping the attackers prepare for the raid. They face the death penalty.

“I hold three persons guilty for waging war against the state,” judge S.N. Dhingra told a packed courtroom. The fourth, the wife of one of the three, was convicted of criminal conspiracy. All the sentences are to be announced on Tuesday.

Five gunmen stormed India’s parliament complex on Dec 13 last year and killed nine people, most of them security guards, before they were shot dead. India blamed Pakistan for the attack. Police say two of those found guilty are members of the Jaish-i-Mohammad.

The two, Mohammad Afzal and Shaukat Hussain, were picked up by police in Srinagar two days after the attack.

Hussain’s wife, Navjot Sandhu, and the lecturer, Abdul Rehman Geelani, were arrested in New Delhi the same day.

All four pleaded not guilty.

But police said the three men confessed to their involvement while in custody and the confession was produced as evidence in the court under a special anti-terrorism law.

Three others have been charged over the raid but remain at large, including Jaish founder Maulana Masood Azhar, who was last week freed from house arrest by a court in Lahore.—Reuters