An Indian judge has handed down a death sentence to the only Pakistani gunman to be captured alive during the deadly attacks on Mumbai.
Mohammed Ajmal Kasab was convicted on dozens of charges earlier this week, including murder and waging war against India.
On Thursday, Judge M.L. Tahaliyani ruled that Kasab would face death for his involvement in the slayings at a Mumbai train station two years ago.
Tahaliyani said the young gunman willfully travelled to Pakistan to be trained by the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group so that he could carry out the attacks of November 2008.
"Such a person can't be given an opportunity to reform himself," the judge said Thursday.
Kasab wept when hearing his sentence, which will see him executed by hanging.
CTV's South Asia Bureau Chief Janis Mackey Frayer said it was a verdict that was widely expected, but it is one that Kasab could choose to appeal.
"He can appeal it to a higher court, he can also apply to the Indian government for clemency, meaning that Mohammed Ajmal Kasab could conceivably sit in prison for years," Mackey Frayer told CTV's Canada AM from New Delhi on Thursday morning.
His lawyer said he was not sure if an appeal would be launched.
Ujjwal Nikam, the special prosecutor in the trial against Kasab, said he expects it will take about a year for Kasab's execution to take place.
Deven Bharti, a senior police official involved with investigation into the Mumbai attacks, said "we're all very satisfied" with the sentence handed down to Kasab.
"I hope it will be a deterrent for Pakistan so they will stop exporting terrorists through the border," he said.
All-in-all, the attacks on Mumbai killed 166 people when they occurred over a three-day period in November 2008. Victims were attacked and killed in two luxury hotels, a Jewish centre as well as the train station where an armed Kasab was photographed in the midst of the terror attack.
Ten Pakistani gunmen were involved in the attacks, but only Kasab survived.
With files from The Associated Press
