Tahawwur Hussain Rana is wanted in India for his role in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks
Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman Tahawwur Hussain Rana, wanted in India for his role in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that killed over 160, can be sent to India under the Indo-US extradition treaty, a court in California has said.
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"The (Indo-US extradition) treaty permits Rana's extradition," the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said in its ruling on Thursday, news agency PTI reported. The ruling came on an appeal filed by Rana, 63, against any move to send him to India.
He had challenged a magistrate judge's order that categorised him as "extraditable" to India for his role in the Mumbai terror attacks. Rana is in a Los Angeles jail over charges linked to the 16/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
Rana is known to be associated with Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist David Coleman Headley, one of the main conspirators of the attacks. He is also accused of having links with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
A panel of three judges concluded that the charges made by India against Rana contained distinct elements from the crimes for which Rana was acquitted in the US.
The panel also held that India gave sufficient competent evidence to support the magistrate judge's finding of probable cause that Rana committed the charged crimes. The three panel of judges were Milan D Smith, Bridget S Bade, and Sidney A Fitzwater.
Rana was tried in a US district court on charges of supporting the terror group that carried out the Mumbai attacks. A jury convicted him of giving material support to a foreign terrorist organisation and conspiring to provide material support to a foiled plot to carry out terrorist attacks in Denmark.
The jury, however, acquitted Rana of conspiring to provide material support to terrorism related to the attacks in India. After Rana served seven years in jail for those convictions and upon his compassionate release, India issued a request for his extradition to try him for his link with the Mumbai attacks.
Rana has argued that India did not give sufficient evidence to show probable cause that he committed the charged crimes. The extradition court, however, rejected his arguments and certified that he was extraditable.
Judge Milan D Smith said the Indo-US extradition treaty's plain terms, the post-ratification understanding of the signatories, and persuasive precedent all support the government's interpretation that he can be sent to India.
"Because the parties do not dispute that the crimes charged in India have elements independent from those under which Rana was prosecuted in the United States, the treaty permits Rana's extradition," Judge Smith said. Rana has the option of appealing against this ruling.
With inputs from PTI
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