Rana 'not guilty' for 26/11, but convicted for helping LeT

By Uttara Choudhury New York: The Chicago terror trial’s verdict for Pakistan-born businessman Tahawwur Rana was split. The jury on Thursday found Rana guilty of providing material support to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and supporting plans to attack a Danish newspaper, but acquitted him of the more serious charge of helping to plot the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai. US prosecutors expressed disappointment at the jury’s mixed decision involving the more serious Mumbai plot charge. But they said the US had still sent a “clear message” to all those who help terrorists. “We will bring to justice all those who seek to facilitate violence,” said United States Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald. “They would have gone into a newspaper in Denmark, and the effort was to kill people, chop off their heads and throw them out the windows, and given the backgrounds of the people involved that could have been very real,” Fitzgerald, told a sea of reporters outside the courtroom at the Dirksen Federal Building. “David Headley’s arrest, we believe, may well have prevented a serious attack, and Mr Rana is being accountable for that role, in addition to his role of helping Lashkar.” [caption id="" align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Rana, who was brought to court from the local prison, stared at the jury after the verdict was pronounced with a look of utter disbelief. AFP Photo”][/caption] Todd Hinnen, acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security, said the verdict “demonstrates US commitment to hold accountable not only terrorist operatives, but also those who facilitate their activities.” After two days of intense deliberations, the terrorism trial of Rana ended on Thursday in a guilty verdict on only two of three counts. The jury weighed Rana’s actions based on telephone taps, conversations and email exchanges and found him a minor accomplice. But he could still face a possible sentence of 30 years in prison. The date for the sentencing has not been fixed so far. Separately, Fitzgerald said that a decision about the government’s star witness David Headley who has confessed to laying the ground for the Mumbai attacks remained “a long way away.” Rana, who was brought to court from the local prison, stared at the jury after the verdict was pronounced with a look of utter disbelief. “We’re extremely disappointed. We think they got it wrong,” Rana’s defence attorney Patrick Blegen said of the 12-member jury which consisted mostly of women and African Americans. Rana’s legal eagles told Firstpost that the defence has 60 days to file post-trial motions attacking the verdict and they intend to file a quick appeal. “We may have an argument that there are conflicting verdicts, but we need some time to review it and think about it,” added Blegen. It is easy to see how the Rana jury arrived at a mixed verdict. Headley testified that the Mumbai plot was a joint operation. He said he was directed and funded by Major Iqbal of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) spy agency and also had a Lashkar handler named Sajid Mir. During the three-week trial, the prosecutors provided evidence to establish that Rana communicated with the ISI’s Major Iqbal, but they didn’t have hard evidence to connect Rana to the Lashkar which actually carried out the attack with its robot soldiers. Rana’s lawyers argued that Headley convinced Rana that he was doing intelligence for the ISI against India by monitoring Hindu groups like the Shiv Sena and he kept him in the dark about the Mumbai plot. The jury appears to have bought this argument. From India’s viewpoint the Rana trial has blown the lid off how a growing number of serving and former Pakistani ISI and military officers have put their lethal talents at the service of the LeT which systematically targets India. There is chatter in diplomatic circles in Washington about how the US may share some of the evidence from the Chicago terror trial with India so that it can press Pakistan anew to go after the Mumbai attack masterminds. During the trial, Headley delivered explosive testimony about how elements in the ISI were in cahoots with the LeT even though the ISI top brass was sleeping. “If the ISI top brass didn’t know about the Mumbai plot and what its own ‘rogue officers’ were up to it is just as frightening,” said counter-terrorism expert Daniel Foley.