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26/11: Headley gets 35-yr jail Chicago, January 24 Headley, 52, had entered into a plea bargain with the US investigators under which he escaped death sentence, but many were left surprised when the US prosecutors did not seek a life sentence for Headley. Headley was ordered to serve 35 years, followed by five years of supervised release by US District Judge Harry Leinenweber. There is no federal parole and defendants must serve at least 85 percent of their sentence. "Mr Headley is a terrorist," the judge said, while imposing
the sentence in a packed court. Leinenweber also said: "He commits crime, cooperates and then gets rewarded for the cooperation. No matter what I do, it is not going to deter terrorists. Unfortunately, terrorists do not care for it. I do not have any faith in Mr Headley when he says that he is a changed person now." "I do believe that it is my duty to protect the public from Mr Headley and ensure that he does not get into any further terrorist activities. Recommending 35 years is not a right sentence. I will accept the government motion 35 years and sentence of 35 years..." Asked if he wanted to make a statement, Headley, said, "No, your honour." In pleading guilty and later testifying for the government at the trial of co-defendant and school-time friend Tahawwur Rana, Headley admitted that he attended training camps in Pakistan operated by Lashkar-e-Toiba on five separate occasions between 2002 and 2005. In late 2005, Headley received instructions from three Lashkar members to travel to India to conduct surveillance, which he did five times, leading up to the Mumbai attacks in 2008 that killed approximately 166 people, including six Americans, and wounded hundreds more. A week back, Leinenweber had sentenced Rana for 14 years of imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release for providing material support to LeT and planning terrorist attack against a Danish newspaper in Copenhagen. Both Headley and Rana were arrested in 2009. Headley was small-time narcotics dealer turned US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) informer who went rogue. His attorneys Robert David Seeder and John Thomas had
sought a lighter sentence arguing he had given huge amount of information to the US government against terrorist organisations like LeT and several of its leaders. Headley has confessed to have undertaken numerous scouting missions for his handlers in Pakistan. He had videographed a number of targets in India, including the iconic Taj Hotel in Mumbai that was attacked by 10 LeT terrorists. According to security agencies, the detailed videos made by Headley were the foundation on which the Mumbai attacks was planned and executed. Headley, born to a Pakistani father and American mother, had even changed his name from Daood Gilani in 2006 to easily move in and out of India without raising suspicion. The US attorneys argued that while there is no question that Headley's criminal conduct was deplorable, his decision to cooperate, provided uniquely significant value to the US government's efforts to combat terrorism. Federal prosecutors also pointed Headley cooperated with Indian investigating agencies for seven days and that he has agreed to provide co-operation in the future as well through various means, including videoconferencing. But his extradition has been ruled out. Former US attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who appeared in court, urged leniency saying that Headley's decision to become an informant "saved lives". — PTI The Headley Chase The Man David Coleman Headley (52, born Daood Sayed Gilani in pic) is a Pakistani American citizen from Chicago; was a follower of Lashkar-e-Toiba founder Hafiz Saeed 2002-05:
Travels to Pakistan several times for terrorist training. Simultaneously, works as an informant for the United States’ Drug Enforcement Administration 2006:
Changes his name to David Headley to make border crossings between US and other countries easier 2009:
Goes to Britain to help plan an attack against a Danish newspaper. Arrested in October at Chicago airport on way to Pakistan along with Tahawwur Hussain Rana 2006-2008: Takes up five spying missions in Mumbai scouting targets for the 2008 attacks. All this is on behalf of LeT and Pak defence officers 2009:
FBI accuses
Headley of plotting to bomb targets in Mumbai and aiding and abetting murder of US citizens The Nemesis 2010:
Headley pleads guilty to all charges. Says his trip
to Mumbai in 2006 was sponsored by a Pakistani ISI officer Maj Iqbal 2010: Under a plea bargain with federal prosecutors, Headley not to be extradited to India to stand trial 2013:
Headley sentenced to 35 years in jail ‘He has no right to live’ A teary-eyed Kia Scherr, who lost her husband Alan and and daughter Naomi in the attack, told a US court: “I feel that the magnitude of the killing that took place, David Headley has no right to live...”
New Delhi, January 24 In fact, Faiza, who met Saeed soon after her marriage in 2007, regarded him as her ‘conscious-keeper’ who could be reached by her for advice and help when she faced problems at home-front. At a press conference in Lahore on Monday (January 21), Saeed claimed ‘innocence’ about the 26/11 attacks, taking advantage of the loosely-worded statement of Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on ‘saffron terror.’ But Faiza’s evidence can nail his lies. Over 166 persons, including six Americans, were killed in the Mumbai attacks. The US has announced a $10-million bounty on Saeed. The Tribune, in an exclusive report on January 22, had said that for strange reasons, India’s foreign spy agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), had in mid-2012 ‘aborted’ a highly classified operation to establish contact with Faiza who is reported to be living in the north Moroccan town of Meknes. The object of the mission was to bring Faiza out in the open with details of the reconnaissance done by Headley and her to identify targets for the 26/11 attacks, Headley’s contacts in Pakistan and their equation with Hafiz Saeed, who is suspected to be the brain behind the planning. Strangely, the Americans kept Faiza out of the trial of Headley and his school-time Pakistan-born Canadian friend Tahawwur Rana, a businessman in Chicago. Headley, who confessed his crime, was sentenced by a Chicago court on Thursday. Faiza’s evidence could have nailed the lies of Saeed who has been attempting to throw a veil over his terror activities under the garb of being associated with ‘humanitarian activities’ of Jamat-ul-Dawa. But it would have also exposed Headley’s links with the CIA, Drug Enforcement Agency, Pakistan’s terrorist groups and its spy agency, the ISI. It is an established fact that Faiza had visited the American Embassy in Islamabad to warn them about Headley being a terrorist, his links with Pakistan-based terror groups and that he was planning to hit targets in Mumbai and Karachi. The US Embassy did not take Faiza seriously and asked her to leave, dubbing her as a “crazy person.” An African-American ‘George A Mapp’, who befriended Faiza during her visit to Manali in Himachal Pradesh after her separation from Headley, in his blog said that “she always talked about Hafiz Saeed with great respect.” Mapp wrote that Faiza told him that when she heard from Headley that they were going to have dinner at Hafiz Saeed’s house, she excitedly said, “Hafiz Saeed - Oh! La, La…” This was her favourite phrase. The Kashmiri separatist leaders, during their recent Pakistan visit, met ‘terror masterminds’ Saeed and Syed Salahuddin, chief of terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen. Saeed organised a special prayer meeting to pay homage to Ajmal Kasab, when the sole surviving Pakistani gunman involved in the Mumbai attacks, was hanged to death at the Pune jail on November 21. A detailed dossier compiled by RAW containing hard intelligence inputs and some of Faiza’s rare and brief media interactions, including one with an Indian television channel, gives you an insight into this mysterious woman. Faiza had come to India for the first time in 2007 after her marriage with Headley and stayed with her husband in the Taj and later in Oberoi-Trident hotels in Mumbai. Both the hotels were targeted by the terrorists during the 26/11 attacks. Faiza told a western television channel that “Headley was very calm while we together watched the Mumbai attacks live on our TV in our Lahore home.” Faiza has recounted her dangerous quest to meet Saeed, her visits to his Lahore house, and that how she was well treated by “soft-spoken and well-mannered” Saeed and his wife, who had invited them for dinner. According to Faiza, Headley told her that he had been to “powerful Hafiz Saeed’s home” several times. Later, Faiza had reportedly gone alone to meet the LeT chief to complain about Headley’s misbehavior. Faiza has talked about an incident when Headley had his bodyguard strike her on the head, badly wounding her in a Lahore court, which sent Headley to jail for a week. She has also spoken of being routinely beaten up by Headley, whom she has described as a “moody and crazy spy.” Dinner with Saeed... Oh-La-La!
Faiza, who met Saeed soon after her marriage in 2007, regarded him as her ‘conscious-keeper’ who could be reached for advice An African-American ‘George A Mapp’, who befriended Faiza during her visit to Manali after her separation from Headley, in his blog said that “she always talked about Hafiz Saeed with great respect.” Mapp wrote that Faiza told him that when she heard from Headley that they were going to have dinner at Saeed’s house, she excitedly said, “Hafiz Saeed - Oh! La, La…” This was her favourite phrase The objective of the aborted RAW mission, Operation Morocco, was to bring Faiza out in the open with details of the reconnaissance done by Headley and her to identify 26/11 targets, Headley’s contacts in Pakistan and their equation with Saeed, who is suspected to be the brain behind the planning
Headley has no right to live, says relative of American victims
Chicago, January 24 Speaking on behalf of the victims, with Headley present inside the court room, a teary-eyed Kia Scherr, who lost her husband and daughter in the attack told a federal court here that Headley must be made to bear the consequences of what he did. "I feel that the magnitude of the killing that took place (in Mumbai), David Headley has no right to live. He must bear the consequences of (what he did?)... this would be morale outrage if David Headley got only 35 years," said Kia Scherr. Scherr is the widow of Alan Scher and mother of Naomi Scher, who were shot dead during the Mumbai terror attack. Weeping in the court room as she described the events of the day, Scherr told Headley: "I do not know you. I know you only from the testimony you gave in this courtroom. I have no understanding of how you choose this path. Your path is not my concern and justice is not my concern". The Pakistani-American LeT terrorist was sentenced to 35 years in jail by the court later. Earlier, Scher read out from Andreina Varagona, who had witnessed the attack and the killing of Scher's husband and daughter. "[T]wo gunmen came running into the packed restaurant, bullets flying. I remember hearing screams and saw all of us sitting there, frozen with fear. 'Everyone get under the table now', I shouted on instinct," read Varagona's testimony. Varagona was dining with the Scherrs, describing what happened on that fateful day. "I had no idea who the gunmen were or why we under attack. All six of us dived down but Naomi was so scared - she just kept screaming and screaming. Her dad, Alan, was desperately trying to calm her. Shots were ringing out as the gunmen peppered the restaurant with fire. 'We have to play dead', I said". "But as I reached up to grab Alan's neck, I suddenly felt the warm spray of blood on my face and in my hair... Naomi's screams had stopped too and I saw her lying lifeless besides him. They'd both been shot dead," Scher said quoting Varagona. Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists, who entered Mumbai through the sea route from Pakistan, gunned down Alan Scherr and his 13-year-old daughter, Naomi at the Oberoi hotel. Scherr was a university professor and worked with the Synchronicity Foundation, a spiritual organisation. Scherr and Naomi lived in Virginia, where Naomi was a high-achieving student who was home-schooled. The Scherrs traveled to India on a spiritual pilgrimage in November 2008 with approximately 20 other people. They were killed while eating in the first-floor cafe of the Oberoi Hotel and four other members of their group were injured. — PTI
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Pakistani-American LeT terrorist David Headley was today sentenced to 35 years in jail by a US court for the Mumbai terror attacks, with the judge expressing his unhappiness over the prosecution seeking a lighter term.
The Mission
