Oct 28, 2009 6:44 pm US/Central
Bond Ruling Delayed For Terror Plot Suspect
Tahawwur Rana Is Charged With David Headley In Plot Against Danish Newspaper
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
A federal judge says she needs more information before deciding whether to deny bond to one of two Chicago men charged with plotting a terrorist attack on a Danish newspaper.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Collins told Magistrate Judge Nan Nolan Wednesday that Tahawwur Hussain Rana would represent a danger to the community and might flee to avoid prosecution.
But Nolan says she needs more information and set another hearing in the case for Tuesday of next week, but says she won't decide the matter then, either.
Defense attorney Patrick Blegen says Rana lacks the money to play an international game of cat and mouse with the government.
The husky, full-bearded Rana appeared at the hearing wearing the bright orange jumpsuit of a federal prisoner but did not say anything to the judge.
Hours before the hearing, prosecutors amended the complaint against Rana, adding a charge of providing material support to terrorism. He already had been charged with conspiring to provide material support to terrorism.
The new charge did not add major factual allegations against Rana.
Rana was charged along with David Coleman Headley in the alleged plot. Prosecutors say Headley staked out possible international targets and Rana helped arrange his travel.
Headley is a U.S. Citizen who lives primarily in Chicago, and he was arrested on Oct. 3 before boarding a flight to Philadelphia with intentions to travel to Pakistan. He was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit terrorist acts outside the United States, and one count of conspiracy to provide material support for terrorism.
Rana, a native of Pakistan and a Canadian citizen who also lives primarily in Chicago, was arrested on Oct. 18. Rana is the owner of a farm and meat processing plant in Kinsman, which federal agents raided the day Rana was arrested.
He also owns several other businesses, including First World Immigration Services, which operates on Devon Avenue and also in New York and Toronto. Rana was charged with one count of conspiracy to provide material support for foreign terrorism.
But on Devon Avenue, where Rana has an immigration business, opinions were quite different.
"Dr. Rana is a nice guy. He's my customer. He comes here all the time," said Zaya Khaya, who says Rana is a regular customer of Sidney Tire and Wheelz on Devon Avenue.
Khaya identified Rana as the man featured in a video taken by a CBS 2 photographer in the wake of the assassination two years ago of Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto.
"This is going to damage the integrity of Pakistan," said Rana of the assassination in December of 2007.
But now the U.S. government has called Dr. Rana's integrity into question saying he conspired to support a foreign terrorism conspiracy.
The target of the plot, code-named the "Mickey Mouse Project" by the alleged terrorists, targeted the Danish newspaper Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten, which had angered many Muslims when it ran 12 cartoons showing the prophet Mohammed, including one depicting him wearing a bomb-shaped turban in 2005. Any depiction of the prophet, even a favorable one, is frowned on by Islamic law as likely to lead to idolatry.
The government says Rana and his accomplice were similarly angered and bent on revenge.
Earlier this month as part of its probe, federal agents raided a farm owned by Rana in Kinsman, Illinois.
Rana's farm supplies goat meat and other products to a grocery store on Devon Avenue in Chicago. The store manager declined to go on camera but said Dr. Rana is a nice man.
But the government says he's a dangerous man who should remain locked up to prevent him from fleeing the country.
Rana's defense attorney says his client has no interest in playing hide and seek with the government.
"Honestly I think risk of flight is a non-issue," Blegen said.
Blegen went on to say that his client is looking forward to clearing his name in court.
Blegen told Nolan the evidence in an FBI affidavit outlining allegations against his client could easily support the notion that he was merely an innocent dupe of Headley and knew nothing about any plan to attack the Danish newspaper.
"The weight of the evidence here is not as much as the government has told you," Blegen said in urging Nolan to free his client on bond.
Prosecutors say Headley, whose former name was Daood Gilani, envisioned a plan to murder the cartoonist and the newspaper's former cultural editor.
Headley's attorney, David Theis, has said he would have no comment. Headley's bond hearing is set for Dec. 4 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys.
Blegen told the judge that prosecutors had added a charge against his client just hours before the hearing to bolster their argument that he should not be released. He said the new charge upped the possible sentence from 15 years to 30 years in prison, adding weight to prosecutors' argument that Rana might try to flee to avoid going to prison.
Blegen scoffed at that notion, saying Rana lacks the money "to play an international game of cat and mouse with the government."
Rana will remain at the Metropolitan Correctional Center. Blegen said Rana suffers from an old shoulder injury that makes it hard for him to press a button that works the water faucet in his cell, and that Rana needs to see a doctor.
Khaya says the allegations are shocking because Dr. Rana is a father of two, a successful businessman and a respected doctor who was always eager to offer free medical advice when requested.
Khaya says he can't believe Rana is caught up in a terrorist conspiracy.
"No. I just can't believe it," Khaya said. "Maybe it's a mistake. He has too much to risk."
Blegen said two of Rana's brothers in New Jersey were willing to post their homes as bond and relatives in Canada would post "what amounts to their life savings" to get him out of federal custody pending resolution of the case.
Nolan said requiring numerous relatives to post their homes and savings would be helpful because it "puts more eyes on the street" to watch Rana and make certain he would not flee and leave them without their assets.
CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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