Evidence of ISI-LeT links to be made public in 26/11 trial

US District Court Judge Harry Leinenweber, conducting the Mumbai terror trial here, Wednesday ordered the release of  over a dozen sealed documents presented in the court as evidence by the prosecution.

The order came on a plea by The Chicago Tribune newspaper, which sought public access to the sealed documents presented during the ongoing trial of Pakistan-born Canadian Tahawwur Rana for providing material support to the LeT, arguing that keeping the documents secret undermined the benefits of public scrutiny.

Invoking the First Amendment and common law rights, the US daily asked the court to give it access to at least the redacted versions of the sealed documents presented in the court and which are believed to have key evidence of links between ISI and LeT and other terrorist outfits.

The First Amendment to the US Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights and covers the freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

The documents have not been made available to anyone. In fact, some of these documents have not been give even to the attorneys of Rana, who is accused of providing cover of his immigration business to self-confessed terrorist Pakistani American David Coleman Headley.