An anti-terrorism court in Lahore sentenced Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, head of the proscribed outfit Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), to life in prison on Thursday.
Judge Arshad Hussain Bhutta, while ruling on case 16/19 and 25/19 filed by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), handed down sentences against four accused, including Hafiz Saeed, in two cases.
Accused Zafar Iqbal and Yahya Mujahid were sentenced to 10-and-a-half years each, while Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki was sentenced to six months imprisonment.
The JuD chief has been in the custody of the law enforcement agency since July 2019; four cases have been decided against him so far.
A total of 41 cases have been registered by the CTD against the leaders of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, out of which 24 cases have been decided.
The remaining cases are pending in the ATC courts.
Earlier in February, Hafiz Saeed was sentenced by Judge Arshad Hussain Bhutta to five-and-a-half years in prison in two cases after finding him guilty of terror financing and affiliation with an outlawed group.
The court handed down a prison term of five years and six months and a fine of Rs15,000 in each of the case – collectively 11 years – but that will not affect the duration of the jail term with both sentences running concurrently.
On September 17, the Senate was informed by the interior ministry that the government had frozen 964 properties belonging to the JuD and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).
In response to Jamaat-e-Islami Senator Mushtaq Ahmed’s query, the ministry told the upper house of parliament that 907 of the frozen properties belonged to JuD and 57 to JeM.
In July last year, 13 top leaders of the banned organisation, including its chief Hafiz Saeed and deputy Makki, were booked in nearly two dozen cases of terror financing and money laundering under the ATA.
The government had placed the JuD in its list of banned outfits in February last year and decided to launch a crackdown on the Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), which was banned in 2002 by then military ruler General Pervez Musharraf.
The decision was made to take action against the individuals and organisations banned by United Nations Security Council. The LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba) too is among the list of proscribed outfits since 2002.
Saeed is already in jail serving two sentences of five-and-a-half-years each, handed down to him in February this year, which means he will not serve any extra jail time.
“An anti-terrorism court in Lahore sentenced ten-and-a-half years imprisonment to chief of Jamaatud Dawa Hafiz Saeed, his deputy Zafar Iqbal, and spokesman Yahya Mujahid on charges of terror financing,” Saeed’s lawyer Imran Fazal Gill told Reuters.
Jammaat ud-Dawa is a charity run by Saeed.
“Since the convict has already been convicted ... by this court vide judgment dates 12.02.2020, so the punishment awarded to him in this case shall also run concurrently with punishment in said cases,” said the court order which was seen by the media
