Rana’s extradition critical step towards seeking justice for 26/11 victims: US DoJ

The United States Department of Justice has said India’s pending proceedings against 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks accused Tanawwur Rana are not the first proceedings in which he has been accused of conspiring to commit violent acts of terrorism.

In a statement released on Thursday, the US department of justice stated that in 2013, Rana was sentenced to 14 years in prison following his trial conviction in the Northern District of Illinois for conspiring to provide material support to LeT (Lashkar-e-Tayyiba), and to a foiled LeT-sponsored terrorist plot in Copenhagen, Denmark.

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The department said that as part of those same criminal proceedings, David Coleman Headley (Headley), a U.S. citizen born Daood Gilani Headley pleaded guilty to 12 federal terrorism charges, including aiding and abetting the murders of the six Americans in Mumbai, and later planning to attack a Danish newspaper, and was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

The DoJ has said that Rana’s extradition is a critical step toward seeking justice for the six Americans and scores of other victims who were killed in the heinous attacks.

It was back in June 2020, the US had acted on a request for Rana’s extradition submitted by India, which he contested for almost five years.

On May 16, 2023, a US magistrate judge in the Central District of California certified Rana’s extradition to India, and after that he then filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, which the U.S. District Court in the Central District of California denied on August 10, 2023.

On August 15, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed that decision.

The US Supreme Court likewise denied Rana’s petition for certiorari on January 21, 2025, the Secretary of State issued a warrant ordering Rana’s surrender to Indian authorities.

Both the district court and the Ninth Circuit denied Rana’s application for a stay of extradition, and on April 7, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Rana’s application for a stay of extradition.

Accordingly, on April 9, the U.S. Marshals Service executed the Secretary’s surrender warrant by surrendering Rana to Indian authorities for transportation to India.

The US department has said that Rana, 64, is charged in India with numerous offenses, including conspiracy, murder, commission of a terrorist act, and forgery, related to his alleged involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks , a designated foreign terrorist organization.

Between November 26 and 29, 2008, ten LeT terrorists carried out a series of 12 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks in Mumbai.

They had infiltrated into the city through sea, and then broke into teams, dispersing to multiple locations.

Attackers at a train station had fired guns and lobbed grenades into crowds, while they had also fired indiscriminately in two restaurants.

They had shot and killed people at a Jewish community center, ultimately when the terror finally subsided, 166 victims, including six Americans, were dead.

Hundreds more were injured, and Mumbai sustained more than $1.5 billion in property damage.

It is alleged that Rana facilitated a fraudulent cover so that his childhood friend David Coleman Headley (Headley), could freely travel to Mumbai for the purpose of conducting surveillance of potential attack sites for LeT.

Rana allegedly helped Headley prepare and submit visa applications to Indian authorities that contained information Rana knew to be false.

Over the course of more than two years, Headley allegedly repeatedly met with Rana in Chicago and described his surveillance activities on behalf of LeT.

US on Wednesday extradited convicted terrorist Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Canadian citizen and native of Pakistan, to stand trial in India on 10 criminal charges stemming from his alleged role in the 26/11 Mumbai mayhem.

The NIA formally arrested Rana, immediately after he arrived in New Delhi on Thursday evening on a special plane from Los Angeles escorted by a multi-agency team

He was taken for medical examination and produced before a special NIA Judge in Patiala House Court late last night, which sent him to 18 day custody with the terror acts probing agency.