Mumbai jihadist: I was framed, I tell ya, framed

Uh, I just look like that guy -- yeah, that's it

Claiming torture is a tactic straight out of the al-Qaeda playbook. "Mumbai Attack Suspect Retracts Confession in Court," by Arlene Chang and Eric Bellman for the Wall Street Journal, December 18 (thanks to Visvas):

MUMBAI -- The Pakistani man captured during the Mumbai terrorist attacks last year retracted his confession Friday, saying he had been framed and tortured.

Mohammed Ajmal Kasab told a special court in Mumbai that he arrived in Mumbai well before the attacks with the aim of starting an acting career. Twenty days before the attacks, he said, he was picked up by the police while looking for a hotel and thrown in jail because he is from Pakistan.

He said it was only during the attacks that he was brought out to take the blame as he resembled one of the attackers photographed attacking commuters at a train station with an AK-47. He said he was then tortured into signing a confession. "I have never seen an AK-47 in my life," the 21-year-old told the court. "I saw it only when the police produced it."

Mr. Kasab's claim is the latest twist in his testimony. He had pleaded not guilty when the trial began early this year, then in July told the court he was guilty.

Mr. Kasab is allegedly the only survivor of 10 suspected gunmen in the attacks, which killed more than 160 people. Mr. Kasab is charged with everything from murder and waging war against India, and could face the death penalty, if convicted.

Mr. Kasab was captured during the 60-hour siege of India's financial capital that began Nov. 26, last year. Police say he admitted during multiple interrogations he was one of 10 gunmen trained in Pakistan who traveled together by sea on the terrorist mission. The assailants shot and killed people at Mumbai's top two five-star hotel complexes, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station, a Jewish center, a hospital and a restaurant.

Police denied that Mr. Kasab has been framed or tortured. They said they arrested Mr. Kasab in a shootout near Mumbai's Chowpatty Beach. His image has been captured on a surveillance camera at the train station, where he and an accomplice allegedly opened fire with automatic rifles and threw hand grenades, killing commuters.

The public prosecutor in the trial, Ujjwal Nikam, said Mr. Kasab's claims wouldn't change the outcome of the trial. "He is talking rubbish," he said. "His statements today are not going to affect our case in anyway. He is an evil terrorist."...

And one who knows that "war is deceit."