26/11 accused Tahawwur Rana “extraditable to India,” rules US Court

In a major development, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled that Tahawwur Rana, the Pakistan-origin Canadian businessman involved in the 26/11 attack is “extraditable to India” under the extradition treaty between the two countries.

The panel affirmed the district court’s denial of Tahawwur Hussain Rana’s habeas corpus petition challenging a magistrate judge’s certification of Rana as extraditable to India for his alleged participation in terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

The panel also held that India provided sufficient competent evidence to support the magistrate judge’s finding of probable cause that Rana committed the charged crimes.

Mumbai Police in its chargesheet has named Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman Tahawwur Rana in the 405-page chargesheet in connection with the 26/11 attacks. Rana is accused of being an operative of ISI and Lashkar-e-Taiba.

In the chargesheet, Rana is accused of supporting the 26/11 attacks’ mastermind David Coleman Headley, who conducted the recce of the Mumbai attacks

Under the limited scope of habeas review of an extradition order, the US panel held that Rana’s alleged offence fell within the terms of the extradition treaty between the United States and India, which included a Non-Bis in Idem (double jeopardy) exception to extraditability “when the person sought has been convicted or acquitted in the Requested State for the offence for which extradition is requested.”

Relying on the plain text of the treaty, the State Department’s technical analysis, and persuasive case law of other circuits, the panel held that the word “offence” refers to a charged crime, rather than underlying acts, and requires an analysis of the elements of each crime.

The panel concluded that a co-conspirator’s plea agreement did not compel a different result, and further held that the Non Bis in Idem exception did not apply because the Indian charges contained distinct elements from the crimes for which Rana was acquitted in the US.

Less than a year after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, the FBI in Chicago arrested Rana. The accused terrorist was operating a travel agency in Chicago 15 years ago, when he and his friend David Coleman Headley, scouted Mumbai locations and landing zones to carry out the attack.

According to investigators, Pakistani terrorists who carried out the deadly attack worked off a blueprint that Rana had a hand in producing. Rana and David Headley are charged with aiding the terror plot. Headley cooperated with investigators, while Rana fought it and lost.

After serving a 14-year prison sentence, Rana was about to be freed from a US prison when India requested his extradition.