Hafiz Saeed faces jail term of 11 years for terror funding, masterminding 26/11 attack
Special Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Arshad Hussain Bhatta in Lahore announced the reserved verdict sentencing Hafiz Saeed to 11 years in prison. This was in connection with two terror financing cases.
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Islamabad: On Wednesday, Mumbai terror attack mastermind and chief of the banned Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) Hafiz Saeed has been sentenced to 11 years in prison by an anti-terrorism court in Lahore.
According to The Express Tribune, this was in connection with two terror financing cases. Special Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Arshad Hussain Bhatta announced the reserved verdict.
Saeed's plea to club all six terror financing cases against him and his associates was accepted by the court on Tuesday. The plea further sought the announcement of the verdict post the completion of trial clubbing the cases.
JuD chief and three of his associates - Hafiz Abdul Salam bin Mohammad, Mohammad Ashraf and Professor Zafar Iqbal - were indicted by the court on December 11 last years. This was in connection to a terror financing case filed by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD).
On December 20, Saeed and Iqbalwere indicted in cases filed by CTD Lahore and Gujranwala chapters.
The verdict pertaining to the terror financing cases was deferred by the ATC last week on Saturday. The ATC decided to hear arguments on February 11 based on the suspect's plea to hear all cases.
13 top leaders of the banned outfit, including its chief Saeed and Naib Emir Abdul Rehman Makki, were booked on July 3 last year. They were caught in nearly two dozen cases of terror financing and money laundering under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.
The CTD laster arrested Saeed on July 17. The JuD chief was then travelling between Gujranwala and Lahore.
29 cases with respect to alleged terror financing, money laundering as well as illegal land grabbing are linked to Saeed. The statements of 23 witnesses were recorded by the court in this regard.
A warning by the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to Pakistan was issued after the crackdown on JuD last year. The FATF urged Pakistan to deliver on its commitments to curb money laundering and terror financing.
JuD and Falah-e-Insanyat Foundation (FIF) were banned by the government in an effort to partially address the concerns raised by India, which said that support was being extended by Pakistan to these six similar organisations including Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).
Crackdown on JeM, JuD, FIF and other banned outfits were intensified over the next few weeks by law enforcement agencies, which arrested over 100 activists.
The government seized around 200 seminaries along with hundreds of other facilities and assets linked to them.Â
