Tahawwur Rana sentencing in December

A Chicago court has dismissed a plea by Tahawwur Rana for retrial and acquittal judgment and set his sentencing for December 4. Yashwant Raj reports.

A Chicago court has dismissed a plea by Tahawwur Rana for retrial and acquittal judgment and set his sentencing for December 4.

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Rana was held guilty by a jury on June 10, 2011 of conspiracy to attack a Denmark newspaper and aiding Lashkar-i-Tayyeba. He was acquitted of involvement in the Mumbai attacks in 2008.

Rana's motion for acquittal and retrial was dismissed on June 7 and the day after, on June 8, judge Harry D. Leinenweber set a date -- December 4 -- for his sentencing.

But a sentencing date for David Headley, who was arrested and found guilty much before Rana, has not been announced yet. He is cooperating with authorities, and deposed at Rana's trial.

"Defendant agrees to the postponement of his sentencing until after the conclusion of his cooperation," said the plea agreement Headley did with the authorities.

Headley had surveyed the targets hit by the Lashkar terrorists in November 2008. He has in deal with US authorities obtained immunity from death sentence and trial abroad.

Rana had sought retrial stating, among other reasons, according to the court order, "Rana seeks a new trial, alleging that the Court erroneously denied his pretrial request to sever the Denmark allegations from the Mumbai allegations."

And he sought acquittal, the court said, be cause he "objects that the Government failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he knew the true nature of Headley's activities or knowingly supported Lashkar".

Rana had been accused of conspiring to attack a Denmark newspaper that had published a cartoon on Prophet Muhammad, and then help Headley in surveying the Mumbai targets.