CHICAGO (CN) - In her closing argument, a federal prosecutor said the government has made "a simple case" against Tahawwur Rana, the Pakistani-Canadian businessman charged with supporting the 2008 bloody terrorist attacks in Mumbai. With days of complex and conflicted evidence in the books, however, this will likely be the easiest argument for the jury to discard.
Before jurors retired Tuesday to determine whether Rana was an active accomplice or an unsuspecting dupe, they heard two contrasting narratives of Rana's connection to the terrorist group behind the Mumbai attacks and other plots, known as Lashkar-e-Taiba, and of Rana's relationship with admitted Lashkar member David Headley, who had also been Rana's lifelong friend.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Vicki Peters began summations by recounting the 2009 conversation in which Headley and Rana allegedly discussed the attacks, calling it the most incontrovertible "piece of evidence that Rana was fully aware of and supported these activities."
Throughout the trial, the parties have hotly debated whether Rana had claimed members of Lashkar deserved to be rewarded. He expressly refers to "the nine" - and it is well known that nine Lashkar members died while carrying out the 26/11 attacks. Rana also laughs as Headley lists his favorite "targets" in India.
Rana's team has described the government's reliance on Headley as a "tragedy," but Peters defended his testimony.
"What would you have your government do," Peters asked. "Tell Mr. Headley, 'You're a terrorist; we're not interested in your information'?"
Furthermore, the government's case against Rana "is not just about Headley," Peters said, noting an email showed that other Lashkar members asked Headley to pass along their regards to Rana.
"How crazy would it be for [a Lashkar leader] to send his regards to [Rana] if [Rana] was not a part of the inner circle," Peters asked. Lashkar members also asked Headley about Rana's state of mind as the FBI and Indian authorities began to round up suspects who might talk.
Allegedly coded language runs throughout this message and other email correspondence on which the prosecution has heavily relied. In one email, the so-called Major Iqbal, a Lashkar affiliate and possible member of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, asks Rana about "any progress made on the project," which Peters claimed referred to the Mumbai plot. Opposing testimony, however, ascribed this to a business deal.
The government says Rana knowingly provided his business, First World Immigration, as a cover for Headley's surveillance activities in Mumbai and in Denmark, the site of the Jyllands-Posten newspaper that published controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in 2005.
Rana also set up various clandestine email accounts for Headley, though the defense argues that these were merely created so Headley could access Internet forums dedicated to Muslim issues.
While Rana claims that he considered Headley a mere business partner, Peters emphasized that the jury has heard evidence of far too many decisions that make no sense in the business context. For example, even if Rana had long hoped to open an office in Europe, it would make little sense to try to place an ad in the Jyllands-Posten, the very newspaper that "insulted Muslims all over the world," Peters said.
