Man in court for plot to attack Danish newspaper over cartoons

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• published: 23 Jul 2015
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AP Television 1. Wide exterior of Dirkson Federal Courthouse building 2. Sign on Dirkson building 3. Pan of Dirkson building AP Television ++MANDATORY COURTESY: Sketches by Verna Sadock++ 4. Pull out from court sketch showing judge to defendant Tahawwur Rana wearing orange jumpsuit 5. Tight shot of sketch of Rana, pan up from his hand on his chin to his face AP Television 6. SOUNDBITE (English) Patrick Blegen, Rana's lawyer: "No, it doesn't disturb me because I know that Judge Nolan is going to take everything into account and is taking her time because it's a very complicated and serious case. I mean, obviously I would prefer to have him out, and he has been in custody for a long time, but we're going to be as patient as we can be." AP Television - Mandatory courtesy: Sketches by Verna Sadock 7. Tight shot of sketch of Rana with judge in background AP Television 8. Friend of Rana's, Masood Qudar, talking to reporter 9. SOUNDBITE (English) Masood Qudar, Friend of Rana: "I mean it's very difficult. You can see from the judge's impressions. It was very difficult for her to make a decision about that. So, things are pretty much good for Doctor Rana." AP Television ++MANDATORY COURTESY: Sketches by Verna Sadock++ 10. Sketch showing people in court room during hearing STORYLINE: A US federal judge on Wednesday put off making a decision on setting a bond for a Chicago businessman accused of planning an attack on a Danish newspaper. Magistrate Judge Nan Nolan postponed any action until Tuesday, saying she needed to study more of the evidence, including two purported al-Qaida videos discovered in the defendant's home. The evidence she planned to review included the transcript of a conversation between the defendant Tahawwur Hussain Rana and FBI agents in the five hours after his arrest on October 18 2008. She also said she needed to study the two videos that prosecutors have said were produced by Osama bin Laden's extremist network. Attorneys said 48-year-old Rana told the agents that co-defendant David Coleman Headley admitted he had received training from Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistani militant group blamed for the November 2008 attacks on the Indian city of Mumbai. The attacks left 166 people dead. Rana and Headley are accused of planning an attack on the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten out of revenge for a dozen cartoons printed in 2005 depicting the Prophet Muhammad, one with a bomb in his turban. The cartoons set off an outpouring of fury and months of riots in the Muslim world. Islamic traditions bar drawings of Muhammad, favourable or otherwise, in a policy to discourage idolatry. Prosecutors say Rana made travel arrangements and provided other support for Headley as he scouted out the newspaper's offices for an attack. Headley's lawyers, John Theis and Robert Seeder, who sat silently throughout the Rana hearing, have declined to comment. An FBI affidavit says Headley has admitted planning the attack and his ties to Lashkar-e-Taiba. Defence lawyer Patrick Blegen has said Rana, a Pakistan-born Canadian national, may have been merely an innocent dupe of Headley. Speaking to reporters after Wednesday's hearing, Blegen said: "No, it doesn't disturb me because I know that Judge Nolan is going to take everything into account and is taking her time because it's a very complicated and serious case." "Obviously I would prefer to have him out, and he has been in custody for a long time, but we're going to be as patient as we can be," he added. Rana has been held in a federal government correctional centre since his arrest. Prosecutors told Nolan on Wednesday that in a five-hour conversation with the FBI Rana admitted Headley had told him he had received at least partial Lashkar-e-Taiba training. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/e964af93b7f34bb145aa8d18439c9e75 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork