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The trial of Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Rana, who is accused with David Coleman Headley for the 26/11 terror attacks, began here with the initiation of jury selection process at a federal court house.
Mr Rana, a 50-year-old Chicago businessman, is accused of helping his childhood friend Headley to scout targets for the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) for the 2008 Mumbai carnage that left 166 people, including six Americans, dead.
The trial, supposedly the most important terrorism trial ever to be held here, began on Monday with the jury selection process at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse.
A total of 100 jurors filled out the questionnaire and will be questioned by the US District Court Judge, Mr Harry Leinenweber. After the jury is finalised this week, the opening arguments of the case will be presented by both sides.
Mr Rana with his grey beard and hair and wearing spectacles was accompanied by his attorneys Mr Patrick Blegen and Mr Charlie Swift.
“It is the beginning of jury selection and jurors are filling out the questionnaire even as we speak,” Mr Blegen told reporters here. “It’s the best way to select a jury.”
The questionnaire jurors will fill out has more than 60 questions. It will ask questions about Islam, and jurors’ feeling about Islam.
Mr Swift said that since 80 per cent of Americans distrust Islam, Mr Rana needed fair jurors.
“People hailing from India, Denmark and Pakistan would most likely be disqualified,” Mr Blegen said.
He said that Mr Rana was handling the ongoing trial as best as he can.
“Rana is very nice and polite and is handling a difficult situation with grace and much better than I’d be handling it,” Mr Blegen said.
Mr Headley is also likely to testify at the trial and will reveal how he planned to carry out the Mumbai attacks. While Mr Headley pleaded guilty, Mr Rana has not.
Mr Headley, Mr Rana’s old friend from military school in Pakistan, claims that two years before terrorists struck the Indian port city of Mumbai, he began laying the groundwork for the attack, financed by $25,000 from an officer in Pakistan’s powerful intelligence service.
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