Glad that day has come: U.S. Secretary of State on Justice for 26/11 victims with Rana’s extradition

The State Department said the 26/11 terror attacks shocked the entire world and the U.S. supported India's efforts to ensure those responsible were brought to justice.

The U.S. and India have long sought justice for the victims of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and with the extradition of accused Tahawwur Rana, that day has come, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday (April 11, 2025).

“We extradited Tahawwur Hussain Rana to India to face charges for his role in planning the horrific 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. Together, with India, we've long sought justice for the 166 people, including 6 Americans, who lost their lives in these attacks. I'm glad that day has come,” Rubio said in a post on X.

Earlier on Thursday, the State Department said the 26/11 terror attacks shocked the entire world and the U.S. supported India's efforts to ensure those responsible were brought to justice.

“On April 9, the United States extradited Tahawwur Hussain Rana to India to face justice for his role in planning the horrific 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks,” U.S. Department of State Spokesperson Tammy Bruce said on Thursday.

“The United States has long supported India's efforts to ensure those responsible for these attacks are brought to justice, and as President Trump has said, the United States and India will continue to work together to combat the global scourge of terrorism,” she said.

Rana is in India’s “possession and we are very proud of that dynamic”, she said.

Bruce added that some people may not remember the attacks that resulted in the tragic loss of 166 lives, including six Americans, that shocked the entire world.

“I encourage you to look them up and to find out exactly how horrible this was in the importance of this situation today,” she said.

Earlier, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement to PTI that Rana’s extradition is a “critical step toward seeking justice” for the victims of the heinous attacks.

The DOJ spokesperson said the United States extradited the convicted terrorist and Pakistani-Canadian citizen to stand trial in India on 10 criminal charges stemming from his alleged role in the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

“Rana’s extradition is a critical step toward seeking justice for the six Americans and scores of other victims who were killed in the heinous attacks,” the spokesperson said.

A team led by NIA authorities landed in India late Thursday with Rana who will now face justice in the country for his role and involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks carried out by Pakistan-based LeT terrorists.

The multi-agency team from India had gone to the US and all paperwork and legalities to bring Rana back to the country were completed.

The hugely significant development comes just days after Rana’s last-resort attempt to evade extradition to India failed after the US Supreme Court justices denied his application, moving him closer to being handed over to Indian authorities to face justice in the dastardly attacks.

Rana, 64, was lodged in the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Los Angeles and had submitted an ‘Emergency Application For Stay Pending Litigation of Petition For Writ of Habeas Corpus' on February 27, 2025, with Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and Circuit Justice for the Ninth Circuit Elena Kagan. Kagan had denied the application earlier last month.

Rana had then renewed his ‘Emergency Application for Stay Pending Litigation of Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus previously addressed to Justice Kagan’, and requested that the renewed application be directed to US Chief Justice John Roberts.

An order on the Supreme Court website noted that Rana’s renewed application had been “distributed for Conference” on April 4 and the “application” has been “referred to the court”.

A notice on the Supreme Court website on Monday said: “Application denied by the court”.

In his emergency application, Rana had sought a “stay of his extradition and surrender to India pending litigation (including exhaustion of all appeals) on the merits of his February 13, 2025, petition for a writ of habeas corpus asserting, inter alia, that his extradition to India violates United States law… implementing the terms of the United Nations Convention Against Torture because there are substantial grounds for believing that, if extradited to India, the petitioner will be in danger of being subjected to torture”.

“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 said 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 that confirmed Rana had 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.

“Accordingly, petitioner certainly has raised a credible, if not compelling, factual case that there are indeed substantial grounds for believing he would be in danger of torture if surrendered to Indian authorities.

"Further, because of his Muslim religion, his Pakistani origin, his status as a former member of the Pakistani Army, the relation of the putative charges to the 2008 Mumbai attacks, and his chronic health conditions he is even more likely to be tortured than otherwise would be the case, and that torture is very likely to kill him in short order.”

During a joint press conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the White House in February, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that his administration had approved the extradition of "very evil" Tahawwur Rana "to face justice in India”.

The India-US joint statement issued during the prime minister’s visit to the US noted that Modi and Trump reaffirmed the global scourge of terrorism must be fought and terrorist safe havens eliminated from every corner of the world.

“Recognising a shared desire to bring to justice those who would harm our citizens, the US announced that the extradition to India of Tahawwur Rana has been approved. The leaders further called on Pakistan to expeditiously bring to justice the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai, and Pathankot attacks and ensure that its territory is not used to carry out cross-border terrorist attacks. The leaders also pledged to work together to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems and to deny access to such weapons by terrorists and non-state actors,” the joint statement said.

Rana is known to be associated with Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, one of the main conspirators of the 26/11 attacks.

Published - April 11, 2025 11:34 pm IST