Monday, November 29, 2010

US Suspect Headley To Plead Guilty in Mumbai Bombings

Mumbai bombing suspect David Coleman Headley is set to change his plea to guilty in a US court on charges of helping to plan the deadly 2008 attacks, court records showed Tuesday. Headley, 49, is accused of being a scout for two different Pakistan-based terrorist groups who used a friend’s immigration company as a cover for surveillance activities in India and Denmark. Headley, who has been cooperating with prosecutors since his October arrest, was to appear in a Chicago federal court Thursday for a change of plea hearing, court documents showed. It was not clear whether Headley would plead guilty to all or just some of the charges against him and prosecutors declined to comment on what a deal might entail. He could face the death penalty if convicted of all 12 charges laid against him in Chicago. The Washington-born son of a former Pakistani diplomat and American mother, Headley reportedly befriended Bollywood stars and even dated an actress during his lengthy surveillance trips to Mumbai. Headley and his friend Tahawwur Hussain Rana were arrested on terror charges related to a plot to attack Denmark’s highest circulating daily, Jyllands-Posten, and kill an editor and the cartoonist. They were later charged in the Mumbai attacks. Headley had pled not guilty to the charges but has long been expected to eventually reach a plea deal with prosecutors.

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