Inside Rana's 11th-hour bid to avoid extradition

Around the time the Donald Trump administration approved the extradition of Tahawwur Rana to India earlier this year, the lawyer of the key conspirator of the 26/11 terror attacks wrote to US secretary of state Marco Rubio requesting him to "deny surrender" citing his health and a possibility of torture in India.

- Neeraj Chauhan

NEW DELHI:

The request was turned down, with Rubio's office saying that the decision to extradite Rana to India complied with the obligations under United Nations' Convention Against Torture (CAT).

HT accessed these letters, written by Rana's lawyer John D Cline, along with the decisions of the district judge and ninth circuit court of California, which originally denied his pleas against extradition in 2023 and in 2024.

Cline wrote to Rubio on January 21, the same day that the US Supreme Court rejected Rana's plea against extradition, requesting him to "deny surrender of his client for extradition to India" and sought an opportunity to meet Rubio to explain in more detail the basis of his request.

Cline cited four grounds for relief: Rana "was previously tried and acquitted in a federal court in Chicago for" his alleged assistance in Mumbai attacks", "he played at most a peripheral role in David Headley's plot", "human rights record and jail conditions in India" and his "deteriorating health".