Tahawwur Rana was on Friday held not guilty on charges of involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks by a US federal court which convicted him for providing material support to Pakistan-based terror group LeT and for plotting an attack in Denmark.
The 12-member jury announced the verdict at the end of two days of deliberations against 50-year-old Rana, a Pakistani-Canadian and co-accused in the Mumbai attack with David Coleman Headley.
Court spokesman Randall Samborn said Rana has been convicted of providing material support to Denmark terror plot and also for giving such support to Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Rana, however, was not convected for his alleged role in the Mumbai attack. The verdict came nearly three weeks of trial of Rana at the Chicago court.
"Rana is in a state of shock," his attorney Charles Swiftt said shortly after the judgement.
Prosecutors alleged Rana was aware of the terrorist Mumbai 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, an all time liar, had fooled him.
Pakistani-American Headley, 50, was the government's star witness during the trial.
"Those who died in Mumbai demands justice. You (the jury) will find the truth that this man knew that his trained terrorist friend (Headley) was bent on killing people," US attorney Daniel Collins urged the jury in his final arguments.
Collins argued that Rana knew about the terrorist attack and let Headley use his business for the cover of the Mumbai attack.
Patrick Blegan, Rana's another attorney, said, "We do not know what the jury was thinking."
He said, "We are disappointed". He said this sentencing could result in a maximum of 30 years of imprisonment, 15 years for each of the two count in which Rana was found guilty. Blegan said the jury decided that there was no death involved due to Rana providing material support to LeT.
"This is a split verdict. Mumbai part of the verdict is very significant as jury did not find him guilty in the Mumbai terrorists attacks," he said.
Those present in the court room were US attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and assistant attorney Daniel Collins and Vicky Peters, Defense attorney Blegen, Rana's wife Samraz Rana their two daughters and mother of Samraz.
Blegan and Rana's family members looked tense and crestfallen. Rana was brought in the court from the local prison at 4.30. Jury arrived a few minute later after which the judge pronounced the verdict.
The Justices Department press note said US District Judge Harry Leinenweber ordered the defense 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 J Fitzgerald, United States 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 at 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.
"The effort to combat terrorism and bring justice to the victims is a global effort, requiring the cooperation and collaboration of many countries and many people. We are grateful for our role and that of the Chicago Joint Terrorism Task Force in bringing some measure of justice," said Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Rana is the second defendant to be convicted among a total of eight co-defendants who have been 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 is also facing 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.
Headley testified that he attended training camps in Pakistan operated by LeT, a designated foreign terrorist organization, on five separate occasions between 2002 and 2005 In late 2005, Headley received instructions from members of LeT to travel to India to conduct surveillance, which he did five times leading up to the Mumbai attacks three years later.
In the early 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 traveled to Chicago and advised Rana, his long-time friend since the time they attended high school together in Pakistan, of his assignment to scout potential targets in India, the press note said. 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 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.
Starting November 26, 2008, and continuing through November 28, 2008, 10 attackers trained by 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 Café, the Chabad House and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station, each of which Headley had scouted in advance.
Regarding the Denmark terror plot, Headley admitted that in early November 2008, he met with a 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.
In late 2008 and early 2009, after reviewing with Rana how he had performed surveillance of the targets attacked in Mumbai, Headley testified that he advised Rana of the planned attack on the Danish newspaper and his intended travel to Denmark to conduct surveillance of its facilities, the note said.
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 departing Chicago, Headley and Rana caused business cards to be 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 email to the Danish newspaper.
The government is being represented Collins, Victoria J Peters and Sarah Streicker, with assistance from the Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department's National Security Division. Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles are working jointly with their counterparts in Chicago on the broader investigation into the Mumbai attacks.
The investigation has been conducted by the Chicago Joint Terrorism Task Force, led by the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from the FBI offices in Los Angeles and Washington, as well as both US Customs and Border Protection and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations.
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