CHICAGO — Two Chicago men are charged with plotting terrorist attacks against overseas targets, including at a Danish newspaper that sparked outrage throughout the Muslim world by publishing cartoo...
CHICAGO — Two Chicago men are charged with plotting terrorist attacks against overseas targets, including at a Danish newspaper that sparked outrage throughout the Muslim world by publishing cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, prosecutors announced Tuesday.
David Coleman Headley, 49, and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 48, were charged in separate complaints filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Chicago. Headley told FBI agents that the initial plan called for an attack against the newspaper building in Copenhagen, but he later proposed just killing the paper's cartoonist and former cultural editor, according to an FBI affidavit released Tuesday.
Prosecutors said Headley traveled to Denmark to identify potential targets for a terrorist attack and that Rana helped arrange Headley's travel.
Headley is charged with conspiracy to commit terrorist acts involving murder and maiming outside the United States. He could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted. He was arrested Oct. 3 at O'Hare International Airport as he boarded a flight to Philadelphia, the first leg of a trip to Pakistan.
Headley and Rana are each charged with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorism conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. Rana was arrested Oct. 18 in his home.
Prosecutors said Headley, a U.S. citizen who changed his name from Daood Gilani in 2006, identified and conducted surveillance of potential targets of a terrorist attack in Denmark on two separate trips to that country in January and July.
The Danish Security and Intelligence Service, or PET, said Headley made detailed video recordings while in Copenhagen in July. Authorities said Headley reported and attempted to report on his efforts to individuals with ties to terrorism overseas, including at least one with links to al-Qaida.
The Danish Security and Intelligence Service, or PET, said it and the FBI worked together to thwart the plot and that an attack was not imminent.
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