The United States Supreme Court has rejected 26/11 Mumbai terror attack convict Tahawwur Rana’s plea to stay his extradition to India, media reports said.
A Canadian national with Pakistani origin, Rana had filed an “emergency application for stay” with an Associate Judge of the US Supreme Court and Circuit Justice for the Ninth Circuit.
Rana had claimed he would be tortured in India as he is a Muslim of Pakistani origin.
“The likelihood of torture in this case is even higher though as petitioner faces acute risk as a Muslim of Pakistani origin charged in the Mumbai attacks,” Rana’s application reads as quoted by NDTV.
He also alleged that the Indian government is becoming increasingly autocratic, citing a Human Rights Watch report on the treatment of religious minorities.
According to a The Times of India report, his petition specifically mentioned that “if a stay is not entered, there will be no review at all, and the US courts will lose jurisdiction, and the petitioner will soon be dead.”
Rana, 63, has argued that his extradition would pose a severe health risk.
His petition highlights his medical conditions, including a 3.5 cm abdominal aortic aneurysm, which he claims could rupture at any moment, Parkinson’s disease, and a suspected bladder cancer diagnosis.
Rana, a known associate of Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, is accused of facilitating the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that left 166 dead.
Headley, who turned approver, testified in a US court that Rana helped him conduct reconnaissance of key targets in Mumbai between 2007 and 2008.
Though Rana was acquitted in the US in 2011 of direct involvement in the 26/11 attacks, he was convicted of providing material support to Lashkar-e-Taiba and aiding a terror plot in Denmark.
About 26/11
The 2008 Mumbai attacks also referred to as 26/11 were a series of terrorist attacks that took place in November 2008, when 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamic terrorist organisation based in Pakistan, carried out 12 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks lasting four days across Mumbai.
The attacks, which drew widespread global condemnation, began on November 26 and lasted until November 29, 2008. At least 174 people died, including 9 attackers, and more than 300 were wounded.
Eight of the attacks occurred in South Mumbai at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai Chabad House, The Oberoi Trident, The Taj Palace & Tower, Leopold Cafe, Cama Hospital, The Nariman House, the Metro Cinema, and in a lane behind the Times of India building and St. Xavier’s College.
There was also an explosion at Mazagaon, in Mumbai’s port area, and a taxi at Vile Parle.
By the early morning of November 28, all sites except for the Taj Hotel had been secured by the Mumbai Police and security forces.
On November 29, India’s National Security Guards (NSG) conducted Operation Black Tornado to flush out the remaining attackers; it culminated in the death of the last remaining attackers at the Taj Hotel and ended the attacks.
(With inputs from IBNS)
