Families of most of those awarded the death penalty in the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts case plan to move higher courts against the special court's decision on Friday. Aalam Gir Afridi, 35, twin brother of Aalam Jeb Afridi, among those handed the death penalty, claimed that his brother in innocent. He said “The lone state-approved witness in this case claimed that he saw my brother was present at his uncle Altaf's house in Juhapura on July 26, 2008, watching news on TV, and that he got very scared after watching news of the blasts and ran away. The truth is, we don't have an uncle named Altaf. He was wrongly arrested in Bengaluru. We will surely move the HC.” Aalam Gir, who works as a human rights activist, said, “After the blasts, when my brother's name emerged in the media, it wreaked havoc in our family. Our sister KhurshidBen, who was married in 2009, killed herself a few months later.our mother is in depression for the past decade..” At Mohammad Usman Agarbattiwala's home in Vadodara, a close friend said, “Ever since the court convicted him, his parents have spent their days in prayers. They wanted him to disassociate himself with SIMI after he was initially found at a meeting in 2001 and he had also assured them that he would.” Mahmad Ishak Mansuri, 77, from Gomtipur in Ahmedabad, father of Ismail Razik, said, “I saw the news of death penalty on TV. My son is innocent and we had made him surrender to police in 2008 to prove his innocence. Had he been guilty, I wouldn't have escorted him myself. We have full confidence in our lawyers. We will get justice.” Four convicts from Vadodara were handed out the death sentence on Friday and their families are pinning hopes on an appeal in higher court.
