Six convicted terrorist Leaders Of Hafiz Saeed’s Pack Acquitted In Terror Funding Case By Lahore High Court
The Lahore High Court on Saturday set aside the trial court’s conviction and acquitted six senior leaders of Jamat-ud-Dawah (JuD) in a terror financing case
The Lahore High Court on Saturday set aside the trial court’s conviction and acquitted six senior leaders of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed’s banned Jamat-ud-Dawah (JuD) in a terror-financing case.
The anti-terrorism court at Lahore in April this year had handed nine-year imprisonments each to JuD senior leaders Prof. Malik Zafar Iqbal, Yahya Mujahid (JuD spokesperson), Nasarullah, Samiullah and Umar Bahadur – and six months’ jail term to Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki (the brother-in-law of terrorist Hafeez Saeed) after an FIR was registered by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Punjab Police.
The trial court had found these leaders guilty of terror financing. They had been collecting funds and unlawfully financing the proscribed organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). It had also ordered the confiscation of assets made from funds collected through terrorism financing.
LeT founder Saeed has also been convicted in dozens of FIRs registered by the CTD on charges of terror financing. The CTD had registered as many as 41 FIRs against the leaders of the JuD in different cities. The trial courts have so far decided 37 of them.
The Anti-Terror Court had indicted Hafeez Saeed and others in December, 2019 in the terror-financing case. He is held at the Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore. Saeed’s indictment was preceded by growing international pressure on Pakistan to stop terrorist groups from collecting funds in the country and to take immediate action against those still involved in terror activities.
The international terror financing watchdog FATF had also decided to keep Pakistan on its ‘Grey’ list for failure to curb funnelling of funds to terror groups LeT, JeM and others. Hafiz Saeed-led JuD is the front organisation for the LeT which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attack that killed 166 people, including six Americans.
Hafeez Saeed, a UN-designated terrorist on whom the US has placed a USD 10 million bounty, has been convicted for 36 years imprisonment in five terror financing cases. His punishment is running concurrently. He is serving a jail sentence of 15 years at the Kot Lakhpat Jail Lahore for his conviction in terror financing case, although his incarceration is largely believed to be a sham.
