ATC hands down 11-year sentence to Hafiz Saeed in two cases

F.P. Report

LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Wednesday handed down a total of 11 years imprisonment to Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) Chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed in two terror finance cases.

Hafiz Saeed and co-accused Malik Zafar Iqbal were awarded five years and six months imprisonment in FIR No 30/2019, registered by Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) police, Lahore, and five years and six months imprisonment in FIR No 32/2019, registered by CTD police, Gujranwala.

The court order stated that Hafiz Saeed and Zafar Iqbal were convicted under Section 11-N of Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, and they were sentenced to five year imprisonment with a fine of Rs 10,000 whereas they would undergo additional punishment of six months in case of default.

The order further stated that the convicts were handed down six months punishment under section 11-F(2)of Anti-terrorism Act with a fine of Rs 5,000 whereas they would undergo additional punishment of 10 days in case of default.

Both the sentences handed down to the convicts will run concurrently and benefit of Section 382-B CRPC is also awarded to them, says the court order.

ATC Judge Arshad Hussain Bhutta conducted the proceedings in both cases. The court had reserved the verdict in cases after hearing arguments of the parties last week and it was announced today.

It is pertinent to mention that the CTD had registered 23 cases against the leadership of Jamaatud Daawa, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation for making assets from terrorism financing.

The leaders booked in terrorism financing cases include: Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, Abdul Rehman Makki, MaliK Zafar Iqbal, Ameer Hamza, Muhammad Yahya Aziz, Muhammad Naeem Sh, Mohsin Bilal, Abdul Raqeeb, Dr Ahmad Daud, Dr Muhammad Ayub, Abdullah Ubaid, Muhammad Ali, Abdul Ghaffar & others.

The cases were registered in Lahore, Gujranwala and Multan on July 1-2, 2019 for collection of funds for terrorism financing through assets/properties made and held in the names of trusts/ non profit organisations (NPO), including Al-Anfaal Trust, Dawat ul Irshad Trust, Maaz-Bin-Jabal Educational Trust, Al Hamd Trust and Al Madina Foundation Trust.