| India-Pakistan |
| US and UN Declare Harakat-ul Jihad Islami (HUJI) Bad Guys |
| 2010-08-22 |
| Do we have a quote policy for VoA? Same as for the AP ... The United States and the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society have designated Harakat-ul Jihad Islami>Pakistain's Harakat-ul Jihad Islami, or HUJI, as a foreign terrorist organization. Moreover, HUJI leader Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri was named a "specially designated global terrorist." These actions require all U.N. member states to implement an asset freeze, travel ban, and arms embargo against this group and individual. If I recall correctly we had this story at least a week ago. VOA is just now picking it up? According to Ambassador Daniel Benjamin, U.S. State Department Coordinator for Counterterrorism, "the linkages between HUJI and al-Qaida are clear, and [these] designations convey the operational relationship between these organizations." |
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| 2 Chicago Men Indicted on Terrorism Charges for Mumbai Attack | |
| 2010-01-15 | |
| CHICAGO -- Two Chicago men were indicted Thursday on charges they planned a violent attack on a Danish newspaper and helped lay the groundwork for the November 2008 terrorist rampage killed 166 people in the Indian city of Mumbai. Businessman Tahawwur Rana and his associate David Coleman Headley already had been charged with assistance to terrorism but the 12-count indictment expanded allegations against Rana to include the Mumbai attacks. Both are in federal custody in Chicago. Retired Pakistani military officer Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed and reputed terrorist leader Ilyas Kashmiri -- described as having been in regular contact with al-Qaida's No. 3, Sheikh Mustafa Abu al-Yazid -- also were charged in the new indictment. Abdur Rehman and Kashmiri are accused of being involved with the plans to attack the Danish newspaper Jyllands Posten, which in 2005 printed 12 cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad that sparked outrage in the Muslim world. Officials say the defendants were linked to the terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba, translated as Army of the Pure, which has long been involved in violent conflict with India over the disputed Kashmir territory. The Indian government has blamed the group for the Mumbai attacks and the U.S. government has designated it as a foreign terrorist organization. Headley, 49, formerly named Daood Gilani, is the son of a Pakistani father and an American mother. He has authorized the government to disclose that he is cooperating in the investigation, prosecutors said. His attorney, John Theis, declined to comment Thursday. Changed his name but not his spots ...
Kashmiri has been described as a leader of the terrorist group Harakat-ul Jihad Islami. The indictment marks the first appearance in the case for al-Yazid, described as a leader of Al Qaeda's activities in Afghanistan. The indictment alleges Headley attended terrorism training camps run by Lashkar in Pakistan in 2002 and 2003. He is accused of conducting surveillance of Mumbai targets in five trips over two years preceding the 2008 attacks. Headley received approval from Rana in June 2006 to open a Mumbai branch of First World Immigration Service as a cover for his surveillance activities, according to the indictment. It said Rana directed a First World employee to prepare documents supporting the story and showed Headley how to get a visa for travel to India. The indictment said Headley photographed and videotaped potential targets, including the Taj Mahal Hotel and other sites later attacked with firearms, grenades and improvised explosive devices by 10 terrorists who stormed through the city, killing dozens and wounding hundreds more, including Americans. Headley also is accused of conducting surveillance at Jyllands Posten newspaper offices in the Danish cities of Copenhagen and Aahus. Rana allegedly sent a January 2009 e-mail to the newspaper pretending to be interested in placing an ad for First World, the indictment said. The following month, Abdur Rehman allegedly took Headley to meet with Kashmiri in the Waziristan region of Pakistan. Kashmiri reviewed Headley's surveillance and suggested using a truck bomb on the paper, according to the indictment. That May, Kashmiri told Headley to meet with unnamed contacts in Europe who would provide money, weapons and manpower for the attack, the indictment said. But Headley was arrested while the plans still were under way, it said. Headley is charged with 12 counts. Six charge a conspiracy to murder and maim people in India and provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. The maximum punishment is the death penalty. Rana is charged with three counts of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, with a maximum sentence of life in prison. Kashmiri and Abdur Rehman are charged with conspiracy to murder and maim people in Denmark. They would face a possible death penalty if they were to be brought to the United States and convicted. | |
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| More plotting in Pakistan: FBI arrests two planning attack on that Danish Muslim cartoon newspaper | ||
| 2009-10-27 | ||
David Coleman Headley, a 49-year-old American citizen, and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a 48-year-old Pakistan national and Canadian citizen, called the plot "The Mickey Mouse Project," according to authorities, and they both arranged for Mr. Headley to travel to Denmark twice during the past year to prepare for an attack on the Jyllands-Posten newspaper. According to authorities, Mr. Headley also traveled to Pakistan to meet with another conspirator, Ilyas Kashmiri, a top member of Harakat-ul Jihad Islami, which is a terrorist group with links to al Qaeda. In September, Kashmiri was targeted by a U.S. predator drone, and initial reports incorrectly stated that he had been killed, authorities said. Mr. Headley was charged with conspiracy to commit terrorist acts involving murder and maiming outside the United States and conspiracy to provide material support to that overseas terrorism conspiracy. He faces life in prison if convicted. Mr. Rana was charged with one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorism conspiracy. He faces 15 years if convicted. Both men were arrested earlier this month, but the arrests were kept secret because "there were ongoing investigative issues that had to be addressed before the documents could be unsealed," said Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd. Mr. Headley was apprehended Oct. 3 at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport before boarding a flight to Philadelphia. Authorities say his final destination was Pakistan. Mr. Rana was arrested Oct. 18 at his Chicago home. Authorities said Mr. Rana is the owner of several businesses, including First World Immigration Services, which has offices on Devon Avenue in Chicago, as well as in New York and Toronto.
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| Pair charged with Danish terror plot |
| 2009-10-27 |
| US authorities have charged two men for plotting terror attacks abroad, including on the Danish newspaper that published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2005. The men, who live in the Chicago area, were identified as David Coleman Headley, 49, a US citizen, and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 48, a native of Pakistan and citizen of Canada. Headley was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit terrorist acts involving murder and maiming outside the United States, and one count of conspiracy to provide material support to that overseas terrorism conspiracy, the Department of Justice said overnight. Rana was charged with one count of conspiracy to provide material support "to a foreign terrorism conspiracy that involved Headley, and at least three other specific individuals in Pakistan", the Justice Department said. If convicted, Headley faces up to life in prison, while Rana faces up to 15 years behind bars. Headley allegedly contacted conspirators abroad, including Ilyas Kashmiri, identified as "the operational chief of the Azad Kashmir section of Harakat-ul Jihad Islami (HUJI)>Harakat-ul Jihad Islami (HUJI), a Pakistani-based terrorist organisation with links to Al-Qaeda". He also contacted a person identified as "Individual A" associated with Lashkar-e-Toiba, a Pakistan-based radical Islamic group that fought Indian rule in divided Kashmir. Starting in late 2008, Headley "corresponded extensively" with the foreign contacts regarding the "Mickey Mouse Project" and "the northern project" - code-names for "one or more attacks at facilities and employees of Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten", the Danish newspaper that published cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed in September 2005. The cartoons angered Muslims worldwide and sparked global protests in January and February 2006. Demonstrators burned Danish flags in protests that culminated in February 2006 with the torching of Danish diplomatic offices in Damascus and Beirut and dozens of deaths in Nigeria, Libya and Pakistan. Headley, who changed his name from Daood Gilani in 2006, "allegedly identified and conducted surveillance of potential targets of a terrorist attack in Denmark on two separate trips to Denmark in January and July 2009, and reported and attempted to report on his efforts to other conspirators in Pakistan". Rana in turn "allegedly helped arrange Headley's travels overseas and conceal their true nature and purpose to surveil potential terror targets overseas, and discussed potential targets for attack with Headley". The FBI arrested Headley on October 3 at the airport before he was to board a flight to Philadelphia with the intention of travelling on to Pakistan, and detained Rana on October 18 at his Chicago home. Rana owns several businesses, including First World Immigration Services, which has offices in Chicago, New York and Toronto. |
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