Pak's Anti-Terror Court Awards JuD Chief Hafiz Saeed To 10 Years Imprisonment

Lahore: An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan awarded Mumbai terror attack mastermind and Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed 10 years imprisonment on Thursday in two more terror cases.

Saeed, a UN designated terrorist whom the US has placed a USD 10 million bounty on, was arrested on July 17 last year in the terror financing cases. He was sentenced to 11 years in jail by an anti-terrorism court in February this year in two terror financing cases.

He is lodged at the Lahore's high-security Kot Lakhpat jail.

"The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) of Lahore on Thursday sentenced four leaders of Jamat-ud-Dawa, including its chief Hafiz Saeed, in two more cases," a court official told PTI.

Saeed and his two close aides - Zafar Iqbal and Yahya Mujahid - have been sentenced to 10 and a half years each, while JuD chief's brother-in-law Abdul Rehman Makki was sentenced to six months imprisonment.

"Judge Arshad Hussain Bhutta of ATC Court No. 1 heard the case No. 16/19 and 25/19 filed by Counter Terrorism Department in which the verdict has been announced after the statements of witnesses were cross-examined by Naseeruddin Nayyar and Mohammad Imran Fazal Gul Advocate," the official said.

A total of 41 cases have been registered by the CTD against the JuD leaders, out of which 24 have been decided while the rest are pending in the ATC courts. Four cases have been decided against Saeed so far.

Saeed-led JuD is the front organisation for the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attack that killed 166 people, including six Americans.

The US Department of the Treasury has designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. He was listed under the UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008.

Earlier in February, a Lahore anti-terrorism court (ATC) convicted Mumbai blast mastermind and Jamaat-ud-Dawa leader Hafiz Saeed in two terror-financing cases. Saeed was convicted under the Anti-Terrorism Act Section 11-F(2) – pertaining to membership, support and meetings relating to a proscribed organisation – and 11-N (punishment under Sections 11-H [fund raising] to 11-K [money laundering]), reported Dawn.

He was sentenced to prison for five and a half years and a fine of Rs 15,000 in each case. The sentences in both the cases will run concurrently. The court also granted him the benefit of Section 382-B of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

On August 22, Pakistan had imposed tough financial sanctions on 88 banned terror groups and their leaders, including Hafiz Saeed, Masood Azhar and Dawood Ibrahim, by ordering the seizure of all of their properties and freezing of bank accounts.

(With PTI Inputs)