CHICAGO — A US citizen who served as an advance scout for the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks that killed more than 160 people, including six Americans, was ordered to spend 35 years in prison.
David Coleman Headley, 52, was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty to 12 criminal counts arising from his efforts in support of the terrorists who carried out the three-day assault in India — and of those who planned a never-executed attack on a Danish newspaper that printed inflammatory cartoons of the Islamic Prophet Mohammed in 2005.
“Mr. Headley is a terrorist,” deserving of a death penalty for his crimes, US District Judge Harry Leinenweber said before pronouncing sentence.
Headley admitted he’d helped identify targets and a water-landing site for the attackers. Citing his willingness to cooperate immediately upon his arrest in 2009, US prosecutors asked the judge to withhold a life sentence.