Canadian man gets 14 years for assisting Danish newspaper bomb plot

GlobalPost

A Canadian citizen has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for planning an aborted plot to bomb the Danish newspaper that published images of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, reports the Los Angeles Times. 

Tahawwur Rana, 52, was sentenced in a US court Thursday after being convicted in 2011 of helping US-designated terrorist group Laskhar-e-Toiba and planning an aborted bomb plot at the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.

The planned attack on the newspaper never happened but the federal grand jury found that Rana used his Illinois-based immigration consultancy business to help the Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley, reports the Globe and Mail. 

Rana used his business to provide cover stories and travel documents for Headley to scout the newspaper that ran the cartoons, including one showing the prophet with a bomb in his turban, reports Businessweek.

Headley is also facing sentencing later this month for the 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai that killed 166 people over three days.

Rana was acquitted on charges that he helped plan the Mumbai massacre but was charged separately for helping Headley.

Gary Shapiro, acting US. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, told the Globe and Mail that Rana "provided critical support to David Headley and other terrorists from his base in the United States, knowing they were plotting attacks overseas."

"This serious prison sentence should go a long way towards convincing would-be terrorists that they can’t hide behind the scenes, lend support to the violent aims of terrorist organizations, and escape detection and punishment," Shapiro said.

US District Judge Harry Leinenweber sentenced Rana to the 14-year prison term, to be followed by five years of supervised release.

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