MUMBAI, Feb 23: The sole surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attacks is to appeal against his death sentence in India’s Supreme Court, his lawyer said on Wednesday, two days after he lost an appeal in a lower court. “I met him (Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab) today and explained that he has a right to appeal. He has given a positive reply that he would like to challenge the judgment,” Farhana Shah said.

The Pakistani national, now 23, was found guilty and sentenced to death in May last year for his part in in the November 2008 attacks, which saw 10 heavily-armed Islamist extremists kill 166 people and wound more than 300.

Two judges at the Bombay High Court, which by law had to review the lower court’s sentence, on Monday confirmed the verdict, saying that it fell into the “rarest of rare” categories required for capital cases.

Shah said that Kasab was waiting to receive a copy of the judgment but he would then lodge an appeal to the Supreme Court in New Delhi from the high-security jail in Mumbai where he is being held in solitary confinement.

He is entitled to legal aid and the Supreme Court would appoint him a lawyer, she added.

If the Supreme Court upholds the verdict and sentence, Kasab can appeal for clemency to India’s president as a last resort.—AFP