Rana acquitted of 26/11 massacre charges

A US jury has convicted Tahawwur Rana, a Chicago based businessman, of supporting the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) to carry out an attack on a Danish newspaper, but cleared of the more serious charge of helping to plot the 2008 attacks on Mumbai.

The Chicago jury convicted him of helping the LeT to carry out an attack on a Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, which had published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, the BBC reports.

However, the plan was never carried out.

The 50-year-old Pakistani-born Canadian, however, was cleared of the charge of aiding to plot the attack that killed more that 160 people in the Indian commercial capital.

The Chicago court jurors convicted him on Thursday after two days of deliberations, after one of Rana’s closest friend and star witness David Headley gave his testimony.

Headley had previously pleaded guilty to laying the groundwork for the Mumbai attacks and helping plot the attack against the Danish paper.

Defence Attorney Patrick Blegen, however, called the conviction ‘disappointing’.

"We're extremely disappointed. We think they got it wrong," he added.

Rana is expected to be sentenced later, and faces up to 30 years imprisonment.