Global Security Newswire

A Chicago man yesterday told a U.S. court he did not scout targets for the 2008 terrorist strike that killed more than 160 people in the Indian city of Mumbai, Reuters reported (see GSN, Dec. 8).

David Headley also pleaded not guilty to charges that he helped plan an assault on a Danish newspaper in retribution for its 2005 printing of controversial cartoons of the prophet Muhammad.

The 49-year-old Pakistani-American could be sentenced to death if he is found guilty of the 12 charges he now faces.

"These are very serious charges, and we are treating them very seriously," said John Theis, Headley's lawyer. "We'd like to respect our client's wish that we not comment on the substance of the allegations or defense strategy," he said (Mira Oberman, Reuters I, Dec. 10).

Meanwhile, a 23-year-old British man was convicted yesterday of assisting three men who planned to use liquid explosives to blow up seven passenger aircraft in flight from the United Kingdom to North America (see GSN, Sept. 14).

Although Adam Khatib was not directly linked to the foiled plot, authorities found his fingerprints at a London explosives production site used by Abdulla Ahmed Ali and two others convicted of plotting the aircraft attacks.

"Adam Khatib may not have known the full extent of the plan being hatched by his co-conspirators, but he certainly knew that they had murder in mind. He was a foot soldier to Abdulla Ahmed Ali and was actively involved in a conspiracy to attack innocent members of the public," said John McDowall, who oversees the British Counter Terrorist Command (Michael Holden, Reuters II, Dec. 9).