US court sends 26/11 plotter Headley to 35 years in jail
25 Jan 2013 7:34 AM IST
David Headley, an American who admitted to scouting out Mumbai ahead of the deadly 2008 siege, faced up to life in prison with no chance of parole on Thursday’s hearing in a federal court in Chicago, but US prosecutors advocated a slightly more lenient jail term of 30 to 35 years in prison, because of Headley’s ‘significant’ cooperation.
Headley, 52, pleaded guilty in 2010 to 12 charges related to the carnage in Mumbai and a second plot to attack a Danish newspaper that sparked outrage over its publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. Imposing such a sentence ‘strikes a fair and just balance between the despicable nature of his crimes and the significant value of his cooperation,’ prosecutors said.
Heavily-armed militants ran rampage through Mumbai in November 2008, killing 166 people and wounding hundreds more over nearly three days in a prolonged assault on Mumbai.
Headley had earlier admitted that he spent two years checking Mumbai out, even taking boat tours around the city’s harbour to find landing sites for the attackers and befriending Bollywood stars as part of his cover. Prosecutors described it as a supporting but ‘essential’ role.
The Washington-born son of a former Pakistani diplomat and American woman, Headley’s western appearance and US passport helped him slip under the radar for much of the seven years he spent working with militant groups. Headley - who changed his name from Daood Gilani so he could hide his Pakistani heritage - joined LeT in 2002, attending terrorist training camps five times over the next three years. He was so eager to attack Denmark’s Jyllands-Posten newspaper that he began working seriously on that plot two months before the Mumbai attack. He also had Bollywood and one of India’s most sacred Hindu temples in his sights as he began plotting a second attack on India during a March 2009 surveillance trip. India objected after US prosecutors took the death penalty off the table and agreed not to extradite Headley in exchange for his cooperation after his October 2009 arrest in Chicago as he was set to board a flight to Pakistan.
Headley, 52, pleaded guilty in 2010 to 12 charges related to the carnage in Mumbai and a second plot to attack a Danish newspaper that sparked outrage over its publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. Imposing such a sentence ‘strikes a fair and just balance between the despicable nature of his crimes and the significant value of his cooperation,’ prosecutors said.
Heavily-armed militants ran rampage through Mumbai in November 2008, killing 166 people and wounding hundreds more over nearly three days in a prolonged assault on Mumbai.
Headley had earlier admitted that he spent two years checking Mumbai out, even taking boat tours around the city’s harbour to find landing sites for the attackers and befriending Bollywood stars as part of his cover. Prosecutors described it as a supporting but ‘essential’ role.
The Washington-born son of a former Pakistani diplomat and American woman, Headley’s western appearance and US passport helped him slip under the radar for much of the seven years he spent working with militant groups. Headley - who changed his name from Daood Gilani so he could hide his Pakistani heritage - joined LeT in 2002, attending terrorist training camps five times over the next three years. He was so eager to attack Denmark’s Jyllands-Posten newspaper that he began working seriously on that plot two months before the Mumbai attack. He also had Bollywood and one of India’s most sacred Hindu temples in his sights as he began plotting a second attack on India during a March 2009 surveillance trip. India objected after US prosecutors took the death penalty off the table and agreed not to extradite Headley in exchange for his cooperation after his October 2009 arrest in Chicago as he was set to board a flight to Pakistan.
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