NEW DELHI: A US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled that Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman Tahawwur Rana, one of India’s most wanted terrorists, who had a key role in the 2008 Mumbai blasts, is extraditable.
A panel of three judges of the court held that the offences Rana is being charged with fell within the terms of the extradition treaty between the US and India, which included a Non Bis in Idem (double jeopardy) exception to extraditability “when the person sought has been convicted or acquitted in the Requested State for the offence for which extradition is requested”.
The (India-US Extradition) treaty permits Rana’s extradition,” the court said in its ruling on August 15 following an appeal by Rana against magistrate judge Jacqueline Chooljian’s verdict allowing his extradition.
On November 26, 2008, 10 Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists from Pakistan carried out 12 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks in Mumbai, which left 125 dead (including nine terrorists) and over 300 others injured.
The panel comprising judges Milan D Smith, Bridget S Bade and Sidney A Fitzwater, held that the word ‘offence’ refers to a charged crime, rather than underlying acts, and requires an analysis of the elements of each crime. It also held that India had provided sufficient competent evidence to support the magistrate judge’s finding of probable cause that Rana committed the charged crimes.
Earlier, Rana was tried in a US district court on charges related to his support to a terrorist outfit.