US court denies writ of habeas corpus filed by Mumbai terror attacks accused Tahawwur Rana

Washington, August 18

A US court has denied the writ of habeas corpus filed by Pakistani-origin Canadian businessman Tahawwur Rana, paving the way for US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to issue a certification for him to be extradited to India where he is facing a trial for his alleged involvement in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

“The court has denied Tahawwur Rana’s petition for writ of habeas corpus by a separate order,” Judge Dale S Fischer, United States District Judge, Central District of California, wrote in his order on August 10.

However, Rana has filed an appeal against the order and sought a stay on his extradition to India till the time his appeal in the Ninth Circuit Court is heard.

In June this year, Rana had filed “writ of habeas corpus” challenging a court order that acceded to the request of the US government that the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks accused be extradited to India.

Judge Fischer in his order said Rana has only made two basic arguments in the writ.

First, he claims that, pursuant to the treaty, he cannot be extradited because India plans to prosecute him for the same acts for which he was charged and acquitted in a United States court. Second, he argues that the government has not established that there is probable cause to believe that Rana committed the Indian offenses for which he is expected to stand trial, the judge said.

He denied both arguments of Rana.