US court rules: Defendant Tahawwur Rana from 26.11. “extraditionable to India”

iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled that Tahawwur Rana, the Pakistani-Canadian businessman involved in the 26/11 attacks, “may be extradited to India” under the extradition treaty between the two countries.

The California-based Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower federal court's ruling allowing his extradition, ruling that the crimes he was charged with fell under the 1997 India-US extradition treaty.

Rana's extradition would be a partial fulfillment of India's attempts to bring Lashkar-e-Taiba's U.S.-based accomplices to justice in India, as the U.S. has refused to extradite Rana's Pakistani-American accomplice, Daood Gilani, who uses the name David Headley. Headley had worked as an informant for the U.S. government's Drug Enforcement Agency and, after admitting to 12 terrorism charges, he agreed with the U.S. government to cooperate on the condition that he would not be extradited. Rana's only recourse against extradition is now to appeal to the Supreme Court, where the chances of even getting a hearing are slim. According to the Justice Department, the Supreme Court hears less than one percent of the appeals it receives.

A three-member appeals court heard the habeas corpus petition challenging the Central California District Court's ruling allowing Rana's extradition. The panel affirmed the lower court's denial of Tahawwur Hussain Rana's habeas corpus petition. The petition was challenged because a justice of the peace had certified Rana's extradition to India for his alleged involvement in terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

Judge Milan Smith, who wrote the opinion for the court, said “India had presented sufficient compelling evidence” to support a justice of the peace's original order “that there was a reasonable suspicion that Rana committed the crimes he was charged with” and thus to allow extradition.

Rana, a Canadian citizen living in Chicago, was arrested in the United States in 2009 for planning a bomb attack on the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, which had published a controversial picture of the Prophet Muhammad. He faced three main charges in a federal court in Chicago, relating to his involvement in the Danish case, his support of Lashkar and his conspiracy to carry out the Mumbai attacks. He was acquitted of the Mumbai attacks charge, but found guilty on the other two counts and sentenced to 14 years in prison.

The appeal court ruled that his acquittal in the Mumbai attacks case had no impact on his extradition because he faces several different charges in India, including conspiracy, waging war, murder, terrorism and forgery, the ruling said.

The Mumbai Police have named Rana in their 405-page chargesheet in connection with the 26/11 attacks. Rana is accused of being an agent of the ISI and Lashkar-e-Taiba. The chargesheet accuses Rana of assisting 26/11 mastermind David Coleman Headley, who led the investigation into the Mumbai attacks.

In the limited review of an extradition order through habeas corpus, the US panel ruled that Rana's alleged crime fell under the terms of the US-India extradition treaty, which contains an exception to detention (“non bis in idem”) “if the person sought has been convicted or acquitted in the requested state of the crime for which extradition is sought.”

Relying on the clear language of the treaty, the State Department's technical analysis, and compelling case law from other jurisdictions, the panel concluded that the term “crime” refers to a charged crime rather than to underlying acts, and requires an analysis of the elements of each crime.

The panel concluded that an agreement based on a plea bargain with a co-conspirator did not compel a different result and further ruled that the non bis in idem exception did not apply because the Indian charges contained different elements than the crimes of which Rana was acquitted in the United States.

Less than a year after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, the FBI arrested Rana in Chicago. The accused terrorist was running a travel agency in Chicago 15 years ago when he and his friend David Coleman Headley scouted locations and landing zones in Mumbai to carry out the attack.

According to investigators, the Pakistani terrorists who carried out the deadly attack worked according to a plan that Rana helped create. Rana and David Headley are accused of aiding the terrorist attack. Headley cooperated with investigators while Rana fought and lost.

Rana was released from prison on humanitarian grounds during the Covid pandemic after serving seven years, after which India requested his extradition to face trial there, which the judge approved. Rana is a former Pakistan Army doctor who founded an immigration service after immigrating to Canada.

The verdict states that Rana helped Headley get a five-year visa to India under the pretense of opening a branch of his company there. Headley used the visa to plan the Lashkar terror attack by conducting surveillance on the Taj Hotel and other targets. Headley informed Rana about the surveillance activities, the verdict states.

Judge Smith also noted in his ruling: “Rana praised the terrorists who carried out the attacks and said the Indian people 'deserved it.'”