Prosecutors: Chicago man had al-Qaida video
Link made in case of terror scheme involving Danish newspaper
In a court filing late Friday, federal prosecutors said investigators found a DVD at the home of Tahawwur Rana that featured bin Laden and was a testimonial to four jihadi “martyrs.”
Also allegedly recovered in Rana’s living room was a DVD titled “Bombing of Denmark Embassy” that prosecutors said helps explain Rana’s plans to target the Danish cartoonist and his newspaper in retaliation for publishing a controversial image in 2005 of the prophet Mohammed.
The DVD was produced by As Sahab Media, which prosecutors describe as al Qaeda’s media wing. The 45-minute video features a full-sized Danish flag set in flames, according to prosecutors, and calls for “violent action to retaliate against Denmark.”
The video also features a computer-simulation of the 2008 attack on a Danish Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, according to the court filing made in advance of a court hearing in Chicago in Rana's bid to be released on bail pending trial. That hearing, originally set for Tuesday, has been moved to 1 p.m. Nov. 19.
Prosecutors, who maintain that Rana is a flight risk, say that among those appearing on the video is Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, the third-ranking member of al Qaida.
“A sophisticated computer-generated simulation of the June 2008 attack on the Danish embassy then followed, showing the white car being driven into the Danish embassy, followed by an explosion,” prosecutors say in the filing.
Rana was arrested in October on charges that accuse him of providing material support to another Chicago man, David Headley, who allegedly plotted to kill cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, who sketched an image of the prophet Mohammed wearing a bomb as a turban that was one of 12 cartoons published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in 2005, sparking violent riots and protests throughout the Muslim world.
Prosecutors also describe the video containing words from Osama bin Laden:
“The video begins with a speech by Osama bin Laden, and profiles the lives and deaths of four men who were described as having died in the fight on behalf of Islam,” prosecutors wrote in the filing.
“It is quite clear that the planned Copenhagen attack “involved” and was “intended to promote” a crime of terrorism,” prosecutors wrote.
Rana has denied the charges. Rana’s lawyerm Patrick Blegen, could not be immediately reached for comment. He's said previously that Rana might have been the innocent dupe of Headley.