BBC News US & Canada
24 January 2013 Last updated at 18:59 GMT
US Mumbai attacks plotter given 35 years in prison
A US man has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for his key role in plotting
the deadly Mumbai attacks in 2008.
David Coleman Headley, 52, was sentenced on 12 counts, including conspiracy to
aid militants from the Pakistani group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) who carried out
the attacks.
Headley pleaded guilty and co-operated to avoid the death penalty and
extradition to India.
More than 160 people were killed by gunmen during the assault.
After initially denying the charges, Hadley eventually pleaded guilty and
admitted to scouting potential target locations in Mumbai.
He also confessed to helping plan an aborted plot to behead staff at a Danish
newspaper that had published a cartoon many Muslims deemed offensive.
'Unfathomable damage'
Headley had faced life imprisonment but US District Judge Harry Leinenweber
said he had taken into account the American's co-operation in the case, even if
"the damage that was done was unfathomable".
"I don't have any faith in Mr Headley when he says he's a changed person and
believes in the American way of life," Judge Leinenweber said during Thursday's
verdict.
Headley was born Daood Gilani to a Pakistani father and American mother but
changed his name to David Coleman Headley in 2006 "to present himself in India
as an American who was neither Muslim nor Pakistani", prosecutors said.
Headley is alleged to have told prosecutors that he had been working with LeT
since 2002.
He was arrested by FBI agents in Chicago in October 2009 while trying to board
a plane for Philadelphia.
Earlier this month, Canadian-Pakistani businessman Tahawwur Rana was jailed in
Chicago for 14 years for his role in the 2008 attacks.
Headley had been the government's star witness against Rana, an old friend from
their days in a Pakistani military school.
On 17 January, Rana was found guilty of providing material support to LeT and
helping to plan an aborted attack on Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. He was,
however, cleared of playing a role in the Mumbai attacks.
The 60-hour assault on Mumbai began on 26 November 2008. Attacks on the railway
station, luxury hotels and a Jewish cultural centre claimed 166 lives. Nine
gunmen were also killed.
The only surviving attacker, Pakistani Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab, was executed
in India last November.
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