26/11 Accused Tahawwur Rana’s Extradition Stay Request Rejected

The United States Supreme Court denied an “emergency application” from Tahawwur Rana, an accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, who opposed his extradition to India, arguing that he would face torture there due to his Pakistani origin and Muslim identity.

Rana, a Canadian national of Pakistani origin, had filed an “Emergency Application For Stay” with the Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and Circuit Justice for the Ninth Circuit.

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26/11 Accused Tahawwur Rana Claims Risk of Torture if Extradited to India

In that petition, Rana claimed that extraditing him to India would violate United States law and the United Nations Convention Against Torture because he had substantial reasons to believe that he would face the danger of torture there. “The likelihood of torture in this case is even higher though as petitioner faces acute risk as a Muslim of Pakistani origin charged in the Mumbai attacks,” the application said.

The application also said that his “severe medical conditions” render extradition to Indian detention facilities, a “de facto” death sentence in this case. It cited medical records from July 2024 showing that he has multiple “acute and life-threatening diagnoses”, including multiple documented heart attacks, Parkinson’s disease with cognitive decline, a mass suggestive of bladder cancer, stage 3 chronic kidney disease, and a history of chronic asthma, and multiple COVID-19 infections.

The action comes weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met US President Donald Trump in Washington, with the latter announcing the extradition of “very evil” Rana “to face justice in India” over his role in the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people.

Terrorists targeted eight locations in south Mumbai on November 26, 2008, and authorities concluded rescue operations on November 29. Rana, 64, has known ties to Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, one of the main conspirators of the 26/11 attacks.

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