Canadian authorities are reportedly seeking to revoke the citizenship of 2008 Mumbai attack ‘mastermind’ Tahawwur Rana Hussain. Canada-based Global News said it accessed documents that show that immigration officials have notified Hussain that they intend to strip him of Canadian citizenship.
Tahawwur Rana had acquired Canadian citizenship in 2001. According to the report, Tahawwur Rana, 65, immigrated to Canada in 1997 and was later convicted in the US of plotting to attack staff at a Danish newspaper that printed cartoons depicting the prophet of Islam, Muhammad.
In its decision, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) wrote that Rana’s citizenship was not being revoked for terrorism, but rather because he lied on his application form, the report added.
What did Tahawwur Rana lie about?
When Tahawwur Rana applied for citizenship in 2000, he claimed to have lived in Ottawa and Toronto for the previous four years, with only a six-day absence from the country, the IRCC wrote in a report.
An RCMP investigation, however, determined that he had actually spent almost all that time in Chicago, where he owned several properties and businesses, including an immigration firm and a grocery store.
The revocation decision accused him of “a serious and deliberate deception”, and said his “lack of respect for the citizenship laws of Canada” had led immigration officials to wrongly grant him citizenship.
“Yours is a case in which it appears that you misrepresented your residence in Canada during the application process for citizenship by deliberately failing to declare your absences from Canada,” IRCC wrote to him on 31 May 2024.
“Your misrepresentation led decision makers to believe that you had met the residence requirements for citizenship, when it appears you had not,” the report cited the document.
What happens next? Court hearing
The Canadian government said it was referring his case to the Federal Court, which has the final say on whether citizenship was obtained by “false representation or fraud or by knowingly concealing material circumstances.
A Toronto immigration lawyer representing Tahawwur Rana, also known as Tahawwur Hussain Rana, appealed the decision, arguing it was unfair and violated his rights, the Global report added.
A hearing related to the revocation was held in the Federal Court last week.
Government lawyers asked the court on 19 December for permission to withhold sensitive national security information from the case.
An immigration department spokesperson told Global News that cancelling citizenship for misrepresentation was “an important tool for maintaining the integrity of Canadian citizenship.”
To ensure the process is fair, the Federal Court makes the final decision in such cases, Mary Rose Sabater said.
“The Government does not take the revocation of citizenship lightly.”
She said she could not say how many such revocations had occurred because the department did not track them, but a Global News review identified only three such decisions in the past decade.
Carney to visit India
The attempt by immigration authorities to strip Rana’s citizenship is moving forward in court as Prime Minister Mark Carney is working to restore relations with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Global News reported.
Carney will visit India, Australia, and Japan from 26 February to 7 March, the government said Monday.
Where is Tahawwur Rana now?
Rana is currently in custody in India, where he is awaiting trial on charges alleging he facilitated the 26/11 Mumbai attack, which killed 166 people. The attack was carried out by the Pakistani terror group Lashkar-e-Tayyiba. Rana is claimed to be the mastermind.
Rana was extradited from the United States to India in April 2025. He was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) as soon as he landed in New Delhi.
Rana is a Pakistan-born Canadian national and close associate of one of the main conspirators of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, David Coleman Headley, alias Daood Gilani, a US citizen.
