Judge denies bond for man accused in terrorism plot

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Officials are seen Oct 19 during a search of a farm in Kinsman, which federal authorities say was owned by Tahawwur Hussain Rana. Chicago prosecutors announced Tuesday, Oct. 27 that Rana, 48, and David Coleman Headley, 49, are charged with plotting terrorist attacks against overseas targets. (AP photo)

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CHICAGO – Prosecutors urged a federal judge Wednesday to deny bond to one of two Chicago men charged with plotting a terrorist attack against a Danish newspaper, while the man’s lawyer argued that his client could have been the innocent dupe of an alleged co-conspirator.

Tahawwur Hussain Rana, 48, was a danger to the community and a flight risk and therefore should not be released on bond, Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Collins told federal Magistrate Judge Nan Nolan.

Nolan said she needed more information and set another hearing in the case for Tuesday, although she said she wouldn’t decide the matter then, either.

The husky, full-bearded Rana appeared at the hearing wearing the bright orange jumpsuit of a federal prisoner but did not say anything to the judge.

Hours before the hearing, prosecutors amended the complaint against Rana, adding a charge of providing material support to terrorism. He already had been charged with conspiring to provide material support to terrorism.

The new charge did not add major factual allegations against Rana.

The complaint says Rana – a Canadian national who was born in Pakistan and owns a grocery store and immigration service in Chicago – provided travel services and other help to another man charged in the case, David Coleman Headley, as Headley scouted out the offices of Denmark’s Jyllands-Posten newspaper for a possible terrorist attack.

The newspaper published 12 cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad in 2005 that triggered outrage throughout the Muslim world. One cartoon showed Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban. Any depiction of the prophet, even a favorable one, is forbidden by Islamic law as likely to lead to idolatry.

The cartoonist, 74-year-old Kurt Westergaard, said in an interview Tuesday with Jyllands-Posten that threats from the Islamic world drove him underground, living under the protection of the Danish intelligence service.

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