Chicago: Pakistani-Canadian LeT operative
Tahawwur Hussain Rana, indicted for involvement in the Mumbai
attacks, is set to appear in a court here on Monday to respond
to the charges against him.
49-year-old Rana will be arraigned before US Magistrate
Judge Arlander Keys in the District Court in Northern District
of Illinois, according to the US Attorney`s Office.
The arraignment of the co-accused in the case,
Pakistani-American David Coleman Headley, has been set for
January 27.
Headley and Rana, both of whom were based in Chicago,
were indicted by a federal grand jury on January 14 on charges
of being involved in the Mumbai attacks and planning a terror
strike against a Danish newspaper.
The 12-count superseding indictment contained the
identical charges that were filed against Headley on December
7 while adding Rana as a defendant in three counts charging
material support of the terrorism plots in Denmark and India,
as well as support to the terrorist organisation
Lashkar-e-Toiba.
Ilyas Kashmiri, a Pakistan-based terrorist linked to al-
Qaeda, and Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed, a retired major in the
Pakistani military, were also indicted along with Headley and
Rana.
Headley, who the government says is cooperating in
the terror investigation, had in December last year pleaded
not guilty to the charges filed against him.
Rana, in custody since his arrest last year, has been
making desperate attempts to be released on bail while federal
prosecutors are opposed to this and fear that he may flee.
Rana, in his bail plea, argued that he is a Pakistani
army deserter and if he flees the US, he will be forced to
live as an "international fugitive".
A status hearing scheduled last week for Rana`s
appeal of detention was cancelled and has not yet been
rescheduled.
PTI
