Setback to Pak-origin businessman Tahawwur Rana as U.S. Court of Appeals says he is extraditable to India
The Hindu
US court rules Pakistani-Canadian businessman Tahawwur Hussain Rana can be extradited to India for 2008 Mumbai terror attack involvement.
In a major setback to Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman, Tahawwur Hussain Rana, who is sought by India for his involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, a U.S. court in California has ruled that he is extraditable to India under the extradition treaty between the two countries.
“The (India US Extradition) Treaty permits Rana’s extradition,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said in its ruling on Thursday.
Also read: 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks | Key accused Tahawwur Rana wanted a ‘medal’ for ‘top class’ contribution
Ruling on an appeal filed by 63-year-old Rana, a panel of judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the District Court in the Central District of California’s denial of his habeas corpus petition challenging a magistrate judge’s certification of his as extraditable to India for his alleged participation in terrorist attacks in Mumbai.
Rana, currently lodged in a jail in Los Angeles, faces charges for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai attack and is known to be associated with Pakistani-American Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist David Coleman Headley, one of the main conspirators of the terror incident.
Under the limited scope of habeas review of an extradition order, the panel held that Rana’s alleged offence fell within the terms of the extradition treaty between the United States 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”.
Relying on the plain text of the treaty, the U.S. State Department’s technical analysis, and persuasive case law of other circuits, the panel held that the word “offence” refers to a charged crime, rather than underlying acts, and requires an analysis of the elements of each crime.
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