Tahawwur Rana, the Pakistani-Canadian military doctor-turned businessman accused of facilitating the November 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack, was on Thursday found not guilty on that charge, but was convicted on the lesser charge of helping the Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group.
A 12-member jury also found Rana guilty of plotting an attack in Denmark. The verdict came after nearly three weeks of trial before a US federal court in Chicago.
PTI reports:
Court spokesman Randall Samborn said Rana has been convicted of providing material support to the Denmark terror plot and for giving such support to the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Rana, however, was not convicted for his alleged role in the Mumbai attack.
Pakistani-American David Headley, 50, was the government’s star witness during the trial. Prosecutors alleged Rana was aware of the Mumbai terrorist strike and was in contact with the terrorist groups and their leaders in Pakistan. Rana’s attorney on the other hand pleaded not guilty and said that Headley had fooled him.
Tahawwur Rana has been found not guilty on the charge of involvement in the November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. Reuters
In his closing arguments, US attorney Daniel Collins argued that Rana knew about the terrorist attack and let Headley use his business for the cover of the Mumbai attack. He told the jury: “Those who died in Mumbai demand justice. You (the jury) will find that this man knew that his trained terrorist friend (Headley) was bent on killing people.”
Rana now faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison on the two counts combined and remains in federal custody without bond.
Rana ‘in shock’
Shortly after the judgement, Rana’s attorney Charles Swift said his client was “in a state of shock.”Patrick Blegan, another attorney for Rana, said, “We do not know what the jury was thinking…. We are disappointed.”
He noted that the jury had decided that there was no death involved due to Rana providing material support to the LeT. “This is a split verdict. The Mumbai part of the verdict is very significant, as the jury did not find him guilty in the Mumbai terrorist attacks,” he said.
Among those present in the courtroom were US attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, assistant attorneys Daniel Collins and Vicky Peters, Rana’s wife Samraz Rana, their two daughters, and Samraz’s mother. Blegan and Rana’s family members looked crestfallen after the verdict.
A Justice Department press note said US District Judge Harry Leinenweber ordered the defence to file post-trial motions by August 15. No sentencing date was set.
“The message should be clear to all those who help terrorists – we will bring to justice all those who seek to facilitate violence,” said Patrick Fitzgerald, US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.
“Today’s verdict demonstrates our commitment to hold accountable not only terrorist operatives, but also those who facilitate their activities. As established during the trial, Rana provided valuable cover and support to David Headley, knowing that Headley and others were plotting terror attacks overseas,” said Todd Hinnen, Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security.”We will not rest in our efforts to identify and bring to justice those who provide support to terrorists,” he said.
Rana is the second defendant to be convicted – out of eight co-defendants indicted in this case since late 2009. Co-defendant Headley pleaded guilty in March 2010 to all 12 counts against him, including aiding and abetting the murders of the six American victims.
Headley, who also faces a maximum sentence of life in prison, has cooperated with the government since he was arrested in October 2009, and testified as a Government witness at Rana’s trial. The six remaining defendants are all believed to be in Pakistan.
The web of terror
In his testimony, Headley said he attended training camps in Pakistan operated by the LeT, a designated foreign terrorist organisation, on five separate occasions between 2002 and 2005.
In late 2005, Headley received instructions from members of the LeT to travel to India to conduct surveillance, which he did five times leading up to the Mumbai attacks.
In the summer of 2006, Headley and two LeT members discussed opening an immigration office in Mumbai as a cover for his surveillance activities. Headley testified that he travelled to Chicago and advised Rana, his friend since the time they attended high school together in Pakistan, of his assignment to scout potential targets in India.
Headley obtained approval from Rana, who owned First World Immigration Services in Chicago and elsewhere, to open a First World office in Mumbai as cover for his activities.
Rana then directed an individual associated with First World to prepare documents supporting Headley’s cover story of opening a First World office in Mumbai, and advised Headley how to obtain a visa for travel to India, according to Headley’s testimony, as well as emails and other documents that corroborated his account.
For three days from November 26, 2008, some 10 attackers trained by the LeT carried out multiple assaults with firearms, grenades and improvised explosive devices against multiple targets in Mumbai, including the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels, the Leopold Cafe, the Chabad House and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station, each of which Headley had scouted in advance.
The Denmark plot
As for the Denmark terror plot, Headley admitted that in early November 2008, he met with an LeT member in Karachi and was instructed to conduct surveillance of the Copenhagen and Aarhus offices of the Danish newspaper Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten in preparation for an attack in retaliation for the newspaper’s publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.
Headley testified that in late 2008 and early 2009, after reviewing with Rana how he had carried out surveillance of the targets attacked in Mumbai, he advised Rana of the planned attack on the Danish newspaper and his intended travel to Denmark to conduct surveillance of its facilities. Headley obtained Rana’s approval and assistance to identify himself as a representative of First World and gain access to the newspaper’s offices by falsely expressing interest in placing advertising for First World in the newspaper, the Justice Department press note said.
Before leaving Chicago, Headley and Rana had business cards made that identified Headley as a representative of the Immigration Law Center, the business name of First World, according to the evidence at trial.
The government’s evidence also included transcripts of recorded conversations, including those in September 2009, when Headley and Rana spoke about reports that co-defendant Ilyas Kashmiri, an alleged Pakistani terrorist leader, had been killed in a drone attack and the implications of his possible death for the plan to attack the newspaper.
In other conversations, Rana told Headley that the attackers involved in the Mumbai attacks should receive Pakistan’s highest posthumous military honours. In the late summer of 2009, Rana and Headley agreed that funds that had been provided to Rana could be used to fund Headley’s work in Denmark, and the trial evidence showed that Rana, pretended to be Headley in sending an e-mail to the Danish newspaper .
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