MUMBAI PROSECUTION UPDATE: FORMAL INDICTMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L ISLAMABAD 002495 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/14/2019 TAGS: PREL PTER PGOV PK SUBJECT: MUMBAI PROSECUTION UPDATE: FORMAL INDICTMENT REF: ISLAMABAD 1845 Classified By: Anne W. Patterson for reasons 1.4 (b) (d) ¶1. (C) Summary: On October 10, following more than two months of delays and adjournments, a Pakistani Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) formally indicted the seven Mumbai attack suspects. The ATC is set to begin formal court hearings on October 17. The Federal Investigative Agency (FIA) is in the process of arresting an eighth suspect, a Pakistani accused of financing the conspiracy to attack Mumbai. Though the lead defense attorney raised objections about the manner in which the suspects were indicted, presiding judge Baqir Ali Rana formally charged the suspects and expects to hear procedural arguments on October 17. End Summary. ¶2. (C) Due to Ramadan and the absences of defense attorneys, the Mumbai attacks case had been postponed several times since its last hearing in August. On October 10, presiding ATC judge Baqir Ali Rana formally indicted the seven suspects in custody at Adiala jail in Rawalpindi. The indicted suspects include five Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operatives (Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Zarrar Shah, al-Qama, Shahid Jamil Riaz, and Hammad Amin Sadiq) and two financiers (Jamil Ahmed and Younus Anjum). ¶3. (C) The court proceedings are taking place in-camera inside the high security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi. After both the prosecution and defense attorney presented opening arguments on October 10, the lawyers left due to the ongoing terrorist attack on Army Headquarters in Rawalpindi. Despite the security situation and the absence of the lawyers, Justice Rana formally indicted the suspects, who then refused to sign their indictments. Lead defense attorney Khawaja Sultan raised objections about the suspects being indicted without their attorneys present; however, the ATC court dismissed these objections. ¶4. (C) On October 17, the ATC will begin hearing procedural matters. According to the FIA, defense attorneys plan to ask for a change of venue to the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court rather than the specialized ATC. The ATC bench is not likely to grant this request. Embassy Legatt has returned most pieces of physical evidence to the FIA and has given them the necessary forensic results from FBI labs in the U.S. This evidence will be used by the prosecution to frame its conspiracy case. The FIA is also in the process of arresting an eighth suspect who was a financier in the Mumbai attacks conspiracy. In August, the FIA received a certified copy of the statements that Ajmal Kasab -- the lone surviving Mumbai attacker-- made in front of a Mumbai magistrate. Despite India's claims that Kasab's statements tie Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JUD) leader Hafiz Saeed to the attacks, they are not likely to be persuasive in the Pakistani courts. The FIA explains that in his first statement, Kasab declared Lakhvi to be the Mumbai mastermind, but in an almost identical second statement, Kasab accuses Saeed of masterminding the attacks. The conflict between the two statements, their hearsay nature, and the lack of corroborating evidence mean that the statements have limited value for the FIA. ¶5. (C) Comment: With several major terrorist attacks in Pakistan in the past few weeks, the Mumbai prosecution has fallen off the front pages of the local newspapers. However, the FIA investigative team and the prosecutors remain committed to obtaining guilty convictions against the indicted LeT members. The case against the lower-level LeT operatives is strong, but proving the conspiracy charges against Lakhvi, al-Qama, and Zarrar Shah may be more difficult. Regarding the financiers, the evidence of their involvement is clear, but the prosecutor's challenge will be proving motive. The FIA and other Pakistani officials forecast that all the suspects will be found guilty at the trial court level; however, the spotty evidence may lead an appellate court to overturn any convictions against the higher-level LeT leaders (Lakhvi, al-Qama, and Zarrar Shah), which could result in their release. The trial may take several months or longer, during which time all the suspects will remain in Adiala Jail. End Comment. PATTERSON