Pakistani born Canadian consultant guilty on 2 terror charges
Louis
Pakistani born Canadian consultant guilty on 2 terror charges -but not for
2008 Mumbai attacks.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/canadian-consultant-guilty-2-terror-charges-2147262
53.html
A Chicago jury has convicted Tahawwur Rana, a Pakistani-born businessman who
once lived in Ottawa, on two terror-related charges but has cleared him of
providing support to the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks.
After two days of deliberations, the jury found Rana guilty of charges
relating to an unexecuted plot to attack a Danish newspaper and supporting
the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
But Rana, who owns a home in Kanata, Ont., near Ottawa, and whose
immigration consultancy business has an office in Toronto, was found not
guilty of providing material support to terrorism in relation to the Mumbai
attacks.
U.S. authorities had alleged Rana gave cover to childhood friend David
Headley to perform surveillance on targets in advance of the 2008 Mumbai
attacks and on sites for the plot to attack a Danish newspaper.
Headley, who has admitted he's a member of a Pakistani militant group,
allegedly posed as a consultant for Rana's immigration services company.
Headley agreed to testify as the prosecution's star witness against Rana in
exchange for a plea deal that saved him from the death penalty or
extradition to India.
Headley, who changed his name from Daood Sayed Gilani, testified at the
trial that he conducted detailed surveillance on the Mumbai target while
posing as a representative of Rana's company - and that Rana was in on the
plot that killed more than 160 people, including two Canadians.
Prosecutors told the jury on Tuesday during their closing arguments that
Rana's praise for the Mumbai gunmen in a September 2009 recorded
conversation with Headley proves the two men were "playing on the same
team." In the conversation, Headley is heard in the tape sharing potential
future attack sites in India and Denmark.
But Rana's defence team argued Rana was a "dupe" for his friend Headley,
whom they portrayed as a manipulator and a liar only interested in scamming
his childhood friend, and then saving himself from execution.
In their closing summary, the defence ripped into Headley's credibility,
citing evidence he repeatedly lied to investigators and his family, and
noting he has been twice convicted for heroin smuggling.
Rana emigrated from Pakistan to Canada in 1997, staying just long enough to
become a Canadian citizen before moving to Chicago 10 year ago to open a
branch of his successful immigration consulting business.