Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman Tahawwur Rana. File image: X/@ani_digital
The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared Mumbai-attack convict Tahawwur Rana’s extradition to India, dismissing his review petition against the move.
Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman Tahawwur Rana is accused of playing a major role in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in India.
A courtroom sketch of Tahawwur Rana, a close associate Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, also known as “Daood Gilani”. File
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Rana, 63, has been incarcerated in a Los Angeles prison since the extradition request by India was accepted by the U.S. He faces several criminal charges for his role in the Mumbai terror attacks, He is also known to be associated with Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, also known as “Daood Gilani,” one of the chief conspirators of the attacks, helping him and others located in Pakistan to assist terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in carrying out the Mumbai attacks.
Rana’s extradition
On December 4, 2019, India submitted a diplomatic note to the U.S. to extradite Rana. Further, on June 10, 2020, India filed a complaint seeking the provisional arrest of Rana with a view towards extradition. The Biden Administration supported and approved the extradition of Rana to India. The two countries have a long-standing bilateral Extradition Treaty, signed in 1997.
Having lost the legal battle against his extraditions in lower courts and several federal courts, including the U.S. Court of Appeals for the North Circuit in San Francisco, Mr. Rana had on November 13 filed a “petition for a writ of certiorari” before the U.S. Supreme Court.
This was denied by the apex court on January 21, a day after Donald Trump was sworn in as the American President.
“Petition DENIED,” the Supreme Court said.
Rana, 64, is currently detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles.
Earlier the US government had argued in the court that the petition for a writ of certiorari should be denied. U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth B Prelogar said this in its filing before the Supreme Court on December 16.
She said Rana was not entitled to relief from extradition to India in this case.
In his ‘petitions for a writ of certiorari to review the judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Rana had argued that he was tried and acquitted in federal court in the Northern District of Illinois (Chicago) on charges relating to the 2008 terrorist attack on Mumbai. “India now seeks to extradite him for trial on charges based on the identical conduct at issue in the Chicago case,” it said.
Ms. Prelogar disagreed.
“The government does not concede that all of the conduct on which India seeks extradition was covered by the government’s prosecution in this case. For example, India’s forgery charges are based in part on conduct that was not charged in the United States: petitioner’s use of false information in an application to formally open a branch office of the Immigration Law Center submitted to the Reserve Bank of India,” the US Solicitor General had said.
“It is not clear that the jury’s verdict in this case— which involves conspiracy charges and was somewhat difficult to parse — means that he has been “convicted or acquitted” on all of the specific conduct that India has charged,” Prelogar had said.
(With inputs from PTI)
Published – January 25, 2025 09:07 am IST
