Tag: Terror Attacks – Bomb Blasts – Terrorism

CHICAGO (TIP): Exactly seven days after his accomplice Tahawwur Rana was sentenced to 14 years in jail, Pakistani- American LeT terrorist David Headley was on Thursday, January 24, sentenced to 35 years in jail by a US court for helping plot the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks but escaped death penalty under a deal with the U.S. investigators over which the judge had serious reservations.

“The sentence I impose, I’m hopeful it will keep Mr. Headley under lock and key for the rest of his natural life,” US District Judge Harry Leinenweber said. The Judge said it would have been much easier to impose the death penalty. “That’s what you deserve”. 52-year-old Headley had entered into a plea bargain with the US investigators under which he escaped death sentence. But many were left surprised when the US prosecutors did not seek life sentence for Headley. Headley was ordered to serve 35 years, followed by five years of supervised release by Leinenweber. There is no federal parole and defendants must serve at least 85 percent of their sentence. “Mr. Headley is a terrorist,” the Judge said while imposing the sentence on 12 counts in a packed court. Leinenweber also said, “He commits crime, cooperates and then gets rewarded for the cooperation. “No matter what I do, it is not going to deter terrorists. Unfortunately, terrorists do not care for it.

I do not have any faith in Mr. Headley when he says that he is a changed person now. “I do believe that it is my duty to protect the public from Mr. Headley and ensure that he does not get into any further terrorist activities. Recommending 35 years is not a right sentence”. Asked if he wanted to make a statement, Headley, said, “No your honor”… In pleading guilty and later testifying for the government at the trial of co-defendant and school time friend Tahawwur Rana, Headley admitted that he attended training camps in Pakistan operated by Lashkar-e-Taiba, on five separate occasions between 2002 and 2005.

In late 2005, Headley received instructions from three members of Lashkar to travel to India to conduct surveillance, which he did five times leading up to the Mumbai attacks in 2008 that killed approximately 166 people, including six Americans, and wounded hundreds more. A week back, Leinenweber had sentenced Rana for 14 years of imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release for providing material support to LeT and planning terrorist attack against a Danish newspaper in Copenhagen. Both Headley and Rana were arrested in 2009. Headley was small-time narcotics dealer turned US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) informer who went rogue.

In their closing arguments, US attorneys Daniel J Collins and Sarah E Streicker had sought between 30 and 35 years of imprisonment for Headley. His attorneys Robert David Seeder and John Thomas had sought a lighter sentence arguing he had given huge amount of information to the US government against terrorist organizations like LeT and several of its leaders. Headley has confessed that he had undertaken numerous scouting missions for his handlers in Pakistan.

He had videographed a number of targets in India including the iconic Taj hotel in Mumbai which was attacked by 10 LeT terrorists. According to security agencies, the detailed videos made by Headley was the foundation on which the Mumbai attacks was planned and carried out. Headley, born to a Pakistani father and American mother, had even changed his name from Daood Gilani in 2006 to easily move in and out of India without raising suspicion.

The US attorneys argued that while there is no question that Headley’s criminal conduct was deplorable, his decision to cooperate, provided uniquely significant value to the US government’s efforts to combat terrorism. “We are seeking less than life time sentencing, because of the significant intelligence value information provided by Headley. Crime is deplorable, shocking and horrific. “We have to recognize the significant value of the information.We believe that 30-35 years of imprisonment would be justified and balance and thus be downgraded from life sentence,” Collins said. Former US attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who appeared in court, urged leniency saying that Headley’s decision to become an informant “saved lives.”

CHICAGO (TIP): Tahawwur Rana, an accomplice of convicted terrorist David Headley, was sentenced January 17 to 14 years in jail followed by five years of supervised release by a US court for providing material support to Pakistan-based LeT and for backing a plot to strike a Danish newspaper. 52-year-old Pakistani- Canadian Rana was sentenced by the Chicago federal court despite his defense attorneys seeking a lighter sentence of not more than a 9-year jail term, citing his poor health. US prosecutors had sought 30 years for Rana, who his lawyers said was duped into participation by his school-time friend Headley.

Rana was convicted in June 2011 by a federal grand jury, which found the businessman guilty of providing material support to LeT and planning an aborted plot to bomb the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. Rana, who was originally arrested in 2009 for his involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, was acquitted of that charge. However, Indian investigators have accused him of being involved in the Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people and are seeking to question him for the second time. Headley, who conducted reconnaissance of the targets of the Mumbai terror attacks for LeT, had entered a plea bargain with the FBI, saving himself from a possible death penalty.

Acting US attorney Gary S Shapiro has requested the Chicago court in a position paper that Rana be handed down a total of 30 years in prison. Referring to the heart attack Rana suffered in June 2012 and the hospitalization thereafter, his attorney Patrick W Blegan had told the court earlier, “It is likely that his health will continue to deteriorate. He will likely at some point require dialysis due to his kidney disease, and is, of course, at risk for a second heart attack or vasovagal event”. Pakistan-born, Rana is a naturalized Canadian citizen who later on moved to Chicago for business purposes and has been living here for more than a decade now.

Rana is the first of the eight co-defendants who were indicted by the federal prosecutors in October, to be sentenced by the Chicago Court. Sentencing of Headley has been scheduled for January 24. In March 2010, he pleaded guilty to all 12 counts against him, including aiding and abetting the murders of the six American victims. Facing a maximum sentence of life in prison, Headley cooperated with the government since he was arrested in October 2009, and testified as a government witness at Rana’s trial.

Among other six indicted by the FBI, include Ilyas Kashmiri, influential terrorist organization leader in Pakistan who is in regular contact with of al-Qaida leaders; and Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed (Abdur Rehman), a retired major in the Pakistani military, both of whom were charged in two conspiracy counts relating to the Denmark terrorism plot.