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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Canadian sentenced for part in overseas terrorism

14-year term for role in supporting attacks

By: Tammy Webber and Jason Keyser

Posted: 01/18/2013 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Tom Gianni / The Associated Press In this courtroom sketch, attorney Patrick Blegen and his client, Tahawwur Rana, are shown during Rana�s sentencing in federal court Thursday in Chicago. (CP)

CHICAGO -- A Pakistani-born Canadian citizen was sentenced to 14 years in prison Thursday for providing material support to overseas terrorism, including a Pakistani group whose 2008 attacks in Mumbai, India, left more than 160 people dead.

Tahawwur Rana did not address the court before U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber imposed the sentence, and did not react afterward, but his defence attorneys said the judge was right to reject prosecutors' arguments Rana deserved a stiffer sentence because the charges were related to terrorism.

Jurors in 2011 convicted Rana of providing support for the Pakistani group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and for supporting a never-carried-out plot to attack a Danish newspaper that printed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in 2005. The cartoons angered many Muslims because pictures of the prophet are prohibited in Islam.

But jurors cleared Rana of the third and most serious charge of involvement in the three-day rampage in Mumbai, India's largest city, which has often been called India's 9-11.

"We think the judge made the right ruling," defence attorney Patrick Blegen said, adding that he intends to appeal Rana's conviction because the judge refused to separate the Denmark and Mumbai charges. "It had always been our belief that it would be very difficult to get a fair trial if he had to face charges for two separate plots at once."

Rana's trial in 2011 came just weeks after Navy SEALs found Osama bin Laden hiding in Pakistan. Some observers had expected testimony could reveal details about alleged links between ISI and Lashkar-e-Taiba. In the end, though, much that came out in testimony had been heard before through indictments and a report released by India's government.

The Pakistani government has maintained it did not know about bin Laden or help plan the Mumbai attacks.

Prosecutors, who had sought a sentence of up to 30 years, issued a written statement in which Acting U.S. Attorney Gary S. Shapiro called the 14-year term a "serious" sentence "that should go a long way towards convincing would-be terrorists that they can't hide behind the scenes, lend support to the violent aims of terrorist organizations and escape detection and punishment."

The government's star witness at Rana's trial was admitted terrorist David Coleman Headley, who had pleaded guilty to laying the groundwork for the Mumbai attacks. The American Pakistani testified against his school friend Rana to avoid the death penalty and extradition and spent five days on the witness stand detailing how he allegedly worked for both the Pakistani intelligence agency known as the ISI and Lashkar.

Rana was accused of allowing Headley to open a branch of his Chicago-based immigration law business in Mumbai as a cover story and travel as a representative of the company in Denmark. During trial, a travel agent showed how Rana booked travel for Headley and prosecutors presented Rana's videotaped arrest statement to the FBI, during which he said he knew Headley had trained with Lashkar. They also played a September 2009 recorded phone conversation between the men.

Defence attorneys portrayed Headley as a manipulator and habitual liar who duped his friend. The jury's decision not to convict Rana on all counts could suggest they weren't fully convinced by Headley, who is scheduled to be sentenced in Chicago next week.

-- The Associated Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 18, 2013 A17

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