US businessman cleared of involvement in Mumbai terror attacks

Tahawwur Rana is found guilty of plotting attack on Danish newspaper but cleared of Mumbai charge in closely-watched trial A federal jury has convicted a Chicago businessman of helping to plot an attack against a Danish newspaper that printed cartoons of the prophet Muhammad, but cleared him of the most serious terrorism charge he faced of co-operating in the deadly 2008 rampage in Mumbai. The jury reached its split verdict after two days of deliberations, finding Tahawwur Rana guilty of providing material support to terrorism in Denmark and to the Pakistani militant group that claimed responsibility for the three-day siege in India’s largest city that left more than 160 people dead, including six Americans. The jurors, who were not identified in court, declined to talk to the media to explain their decision, which defence lawyers described as conflicting. Rana, a Canadian national who has lived in Chicago for years, faces up to 30 years in prison on the two charges. “We’re extremely disappointed. We think they got it wrong,” defence attorney Patrick Blegen told reporters. At the centre of the trial was testimony by the government’s star witness, David Coleman Headley , Rana’s longtime friend. Headley had previously pleaded guilty to laying the groundwork for the Mumbai attacks and planning to attack the Danish paper in retaliation for printing the cartoons, which had angered many Muslims because pictures of the prophet are prohibited in Islam. That plot was never carried out. Headley’s testimony was closely watched worldwide because it provided a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which took credit for the Mumbai attacks, and the group’s alleged co-operation with Pakistan’s top intelligence agency known as the ISI . The trial started weeks after US navy Seals found Osama bin Laden hiding outside Islamabad, raising concerns that Pakistan may have been protecting the world’s most wanted terrorist. The Pakistani government has denied the allegations and maintained it did not know about Bin Laden or help plan the Mumbai attacks. Ujjwal Nikam, the special public prosecutor in the Mumbai attack trial in India, said he was disappointed with the verdict. “When Rana has been held guilty of assisting the Lashkar-e-Taiba and guilty of supporting terrorist acts in Denmark, how have they separated him from the Mumbai attacks?” he said. “It appears that there are some apparent contradictions in this verdict.” India’s internal security chief, UK Bansal, told reporters that the verdict should not be a setback for the case in India. “The judicial systems in both countries are different. We will be presenting our evidence before our own courts,” Bansal said. Defence lawyers spent much of their time trying to discredit Headley, who they claim duped his friend from a Pakistani boarding school. They attacked Headley’s character, saying he initially lied to the FBI, lied to a judge and even lied to his own family. They claimed he implicated Rana in the plot because he wanted to make a deal with prosecutors, something he had learned about when he became an informant for the US drug enforcement administration after two heroin convictions. But prosecutors claimed Rana, 50, knew exactly what he was doing when he helped Headley. Rana, who did not testify, was on trial for allegedly allowing Headley to open a branch of his Chicago-based immigration law services business in Mumbai as a cover story while Headley conducted surveillance before the November 2008 attacks. He was also accused of letting Headley, who will avoid the death penalty and extradition because of his co-operation, travel as a representative of the company in Copenhagen. Prosecutors used a phone call between Rana and Headley, recorded on 7 September 2009, as the centrepiece of their evidence against Rana. In the call, the men discussed the Mumbai attacks and Headley talked about future targets, including the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. Prosecutors also questioned the validity of Rana wanting to open a branch of his office in Denmark and sending Headley to the Copenhagen newspaper’s office simply to inquire about advertising, which could have been done via email or telephone. The US attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said he was gratified by the jury’s decision and disagreed with defence lawyers who said the verdict was conflicting because Rana was convicted of supporting Lashkar-e-Taiba but acquitted of helping in the Mumbai attacks. “There are lots of ways you could explain it, but I have not spoken to the jury,” Fitzgerald said. “There was clearly evidence that he knew he was working with Lashkar.” In court, prosecutors played clips of Rana’s post-arrest statement to the FBI, in which he said he knew Headley had trained with Lashkar, which the US has declared a terrorist organisation. It was also clear from the recording that Rana was at least aware of the others allegedly involved in the Danish plot. Six others were charged in absentia in the case, including an ISI member known only as Major Iqbal and Headley’s Lashkar handler, Sajid Mir. According to Headley’s testimony, Lashkar was initially involved in planning the Danish plot. But after the Mumbai attacks, the group decided to lay low, according to Headley, who said he proceeded to work with another militant group. While much of Headley’s testimony had been heard before – both through the indictment and a report released by the Indian government last year – he did reveal a few new details. Among them was that another militant leader, Ilyas Kashmiri, who US officials believed to be al-Qaida’s military operations chief in Pakistan, had plotted to attack the US defence contractor Lockheed Martin. Kashmiri was reported killed on 3 June by US drone attacks inside Pakistan. While US officials have not confirmed the death, Pakistani officials say they are certain he is dead. Headley said he worked with Kashmiri in the plot against the Danish paper, describing how the militant wanted a “stronghold approach”. One plan included taking hostages in the building and killing them quickly by beheading them. “He said we should throw out the heads of the hostages from the windows,” Headley said of Kashmiri, speaking in a monotone and seemingly detached voice. “He said shoot them first and then behead them later, so there wouldn’t be a struggle.” Global terrorism Mumbai terror attacks Muhammad cartoons row 2006 United States Pakistan guardian.co.uk

Posted by on June 10, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.