Pakistan court sentences another JuD leader to 6 years of imprisonment

An anti-terrorism court on Friday handed down six-year-old imprisonment to another senior leader of Jamat-ud Dawa (JuD) in a terror-financing case.

An anti-terrorism court on Friday handed down six-year-old imprisonment to another senior leader of Jamat-ud Dawa (JuD) in a terror-financing case. Announcing the verdict in FIR No. 26, Presiding Judge Arshad Hussain Bhutta sentenced Muhammad Ashraf for the imprisonment and also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000, reported Dawn.

On Thursday, the court had convicted JuD Chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the mastermind of the Mumbai attack in 2008, and its leaders, including Malik Zafar Iqbal, Yahya Mujahid and Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki, in two FIRs. While Saeed, Iqbal and Mujahid were awarded collective imprisonment of ten-and-a-half years in each case, Makki was jailed for six months.

They were 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 to 11-K). Section 11H relates to fundraising for the purpose of terrorism, 11-I is about the use and possession of money or other property for terrorism, 11-J relates to funding arrangements, which result in money being made available for terrorism, while 11-K relates to money laundering.

The Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief was arrested on July 17, 2019, at the Kamoke toll plaza, about 50 km north of Lahore. The US has placed a USD 10 million bounty on the UN-designated terrorist Hafiz Saeed. The court has ordered Saeed's properties to be seized. The JuD leaders have been convicted in several FIRs of terror financing while trial proceedings in several others were pending adjudication.

The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab had registered 41 FIRs against the JuD leaders in different cities. The trial courts have so far decided 25 cases, Dawn reported. Back in July, the top 13 members of the JuD, including Saeed, were booked in nearly two dozen cases for terror financing and money laundering under Pakistan's Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 1997.

Subsequently, Saeed was arrested from Gujranwala on charges of terror financing by the CTD. (ANI)

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