International National

US Supreme Court Clears 26/11 Convict Tahawwur Rana’s Extradition To India

In a big diplomatic win for India, The US Supreme Court cleared the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack convict Tahawwur Rana’s extradition to India, dismissing his review petition against the move. This was Rana’s last legal chance not to be extradited to India. In his plea, Rana argued that he was tried and acquitted in federal court in the Northern District of Illinois (Chicago) on charges related to the Mumbai attacks. 

He also stated that he could be sent to India for a second trial on the same charges, facing the possibility of a conviction and death sentence. Rana had earlier approached the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco after losing legal battles in lower and federal courts.

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Rana, on November 13, filed a “petition for a writ of certiorari before the US Supreme Court. The top court denied this on January 21, a day after Donald Trump was sworn in as the President of the USA.

In December 2024,   US Solicitor General Elizabeth B Prelogar had urged the Supreme Court to dismiss “the petition for a writ of certiorari filed by Rana. 63-year-old Rana is a Canadian citizen of Pakistani origin And is sought by Indian authorities for his role in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.Rana has been held in a Los Angeles prison. The FBI arrested Rana in Chicago in 2009. 

He is linked to Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, also known as “Daood Gilani,” a key figure in the attacks. He is accused of aiding him and others in Pakistan to support the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in carrying out the attack. Headley became an approver in the case and is serving a 35-year prison sentence in the US for his involvement in the attack.

In 2023, while speaking in the Lok Sabha, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said that Tahawwur Rana will face the Indian judiciary soon.A total of 166 people, including six Americans, were killed in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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