David Headley is currently serving 35 years in an American prison after being convicted of being involved in the planning and execution of 26/11 terror attack. (File Photo)
Mumbai:
Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist David Coleman Headley is testifying before a Mumbai court today through video conference from an undisclosed location in the US. He is serving a 35-year jail sentence in the US for his role in the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai.
Here are 10 facts about the 26/11 terrorist's trial
The prosecution is questioning David Headley regarding the involvement of Pakistan army and its Inter-Services Intelligence in the 2008 attacks, in which 164 people died.
Headley has reportedly admitted to meeting Lashkar-e-Taiba's Sajid Mir and visiting India eight times before the 26/11 attack.
For the first time in Indian legal history a foreign terrorist is testifying through video link. His evidence may give the broader aspect of criminal conspiracy, said special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam.
David Headley's testimony is also expected to help bring to book Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Sayeed, who is currently in Pakistan, and 26/11 mastermind Abu Jundal who is facing trial in India.
Earlier, during questioning by the National Investigation agency, Headley had said three senior Pakistani officials had played a key role in the attack. They were the same people named by Abu Jundal, who is being tried in Mumbai.
Headley, who allegedly played a key role in planning and executing 26/11 attacks, had been charged with conspiracy by the National Investigation Agency, which carries a death sentence.
In December, Headley was pardoned by a Mumbai court after he accepted its conditions that included disclosure of the "full and true facts" leading to the 26/11 attacks and his role in it.
During Headley's trial, the US Department of Justice said he had admitted that he attended training camps in Pakistan operated by Lashkar-e-Taiba on five occasions between 2002 and 2005.
"In late 2005, he received instructions from three members of Lashkar to travel to India to conduct surveillance, which he did five times leading up to the Mumbai attacks," the US Department of Justice statement read.
"Headley and co-conspirators in Pakistan discussed potential landing sites in Mumbai for a team of attackers... Headley returned to Mumbai with a GPS device and took boat trips around the Mumbai harbor and entered various locations into the device," the statement further read. The US has said it would do anything to bring to book the perpetrators of the 26/11 attacks.
Post a comment