Headley Pleads Not Guilty to All 12 Charges

Pakistani-born American national and suspected Lashkar operative David Coleman Headley has pleaded not guilty to 12 charges, including scouting targets for the November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that killed 166 people, reported IANS.

Report said that Headley entered his plea before US Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys in Chicago federal court on Wednesday.

He also denied having provided material support to the Pakistan-based terror group LeT, which has been blamed for 26/11 terror attacks and for a plot to attack a Danish newspaper, said report.

In the meanwhile, both prosecutors and defence counsel said that Headley was cooperating with the government, said report.

“He knows the seriousness and the gravity of the charges against him,” Headley’s defence lawyer John Theis was quoted as saying while talking to reporters after the hearing.

Theis said that he may report on progress toward ‘an ultimate disposition’ of the case at a hearing set for Feb 23 before US District Judge Harry Leinenweber, report said.

Headley entered a plea of not guilty to the same charges last month.

The US Justice Department on January 14 had announced the unsealing of a fresh indictment against Headley and three other men.