David Headley produced in Chicago court, pleads not guilty

Pakistani-American David Coleman Headley, a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, today pleaded not guilty before a court where he was produced two days after being charged with helping plan the Mumbai terror attack.

Headley, 49, arrested in October this year, also pleaded not guilty to the charge of plotting terror attacks in Denmark. The next hearing of the case will be held on January
12.

Headley, who appeared in court in an orange jumpsuit, shackled at the ankle, has been charged with six counts of criminal conspiracy.

After the arraignment hearing, Headley's attorney John Theis told reporters that his client had pleaded not guilty to the charges pronounced against him.

"Over the next several weeks and months we will give the evidence," he said outside the court. On being asked whether Indian authorities can get access to Headley, he said: "If they make any such request, we will deal with it when it comes to us."

Headley has been accused of conspiring to bomb public places in India, murder and maim persons in India and Denmark, providing material support to foreign terrorist plots, and providing material support to the LeT, a Pakistan-based terror group.

Headley, who changed his name from Daood Gilani in 2006 so that he could "present himself in India as an American who was neither Muslim nor Pakistani, is also facing six counts of aiding and abetting the murder of US citizens in India.

The charges filed in the federal court in Chicago said Headley conducted extensive surveillance of targets in Mumbai for more than two years preceding the 26/11 terrorist attacks, took pictures and videotapes of various targets, and supplied them to the perpetrators of the assault in which 166 persons were killed.

The charges were announced on Monday by Patrick J Fitzgerald, US attorney for the northern district of Illinois, and Robert D Grant, special agent in charge of the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

All counts against Headley, a Chicago resident, carry a maximum punishment of life in prison, except providing material support to the Denmark terror plot, which carries a maximum prison term of 15 years.

Headley attended terror training camps in Pakistan run by the LeT and conspired with its members and others to plan and execute the attacks in India and Denmark, the charges filed by federal law enforcement officers said.

A retired Pakistan Army major, Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed, played the central role in communicating with Headley and facilitating contacts with other co-conspirators in Pakistan, including LeT members, they said.

The FBI also arrested Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Hussain Rana, Headley's friend who ran an immigration service in Chicago in connection with the case.