UK court acquits JKLF terrorist

London: The Birmingham Crown court acquitted Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) terrorist Mohammad Aslam Mirza from three charges -- murder, kidnapping and the false imprisonment of 50-year-old Indian diplomat Ravindra Mhatre.

After a five hour deliberation on Thursday, the jury delivered its verdict following a nine-day trial.

Mirza, a British citizen, was arrested from Pennsylvania for overstaying in the US after his visa had expired and the finger-print evidence revealed that he was a member of the JKLF, wanted for the kidnap and murder of Mhatre.

Twenty one years ago, Mhatre was abducted and killed in an attempt to secure the release from prison of the group's founder Maqbool Bhat.

Mirza told the court he was not involved in the murder and added that he was appalled by the charges and had no recollection of the events of 1984 due to severe memory problems.

Denying any involvement, he told the court that after the killing he had gone to Kashmir on family business.

Earlier, the court had heard how Mhatre, who lived in Barley Green with his wife and children, had been kidnapped from a road, bundled in a car and taken to a house in Alum Rock.

Prosecutor William Davis said Mhatre was held there for two days until February 5, 1984.

He said, "He was driven to a really remote spot in Leicestershire and shot three times. In simple terms, he was executed in cold blood."

Prosecutor Davis said that before his killing, letters demanding a ?1 million ransom and the release of a prisoner sentenced to death by Indian authorities were sent to the offices of news agencies in London.

Two men were convicted of the murder shortly afterwards.

However, the man believed to have actually shot Mhatre has never been caught.

Prosecutor Davis told the court earlier that "this case is about an act of terrorism, the killing of a man for supposed political ends as long ago as 1984."

Davis said although Mirza, a member of Kashmir Jihad, who was arrested in 2003, was not present at the scene, he was 'party' to the murder by taking part in the enterprise that led to Mhatre's death.

The court heard that those responsible for the abduction and killing called themselves the Kashmiri Liberation Army who wanted independence for Kashmir from India.