Hafiz Saeed sentenced to 33 years in jail

Hafiz Saeed sentenced to 33 years in jail

2 Min
South Asian Digest

An anti-terrorism court awarded a combined sentence of 33 years imprisonment to Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed on Friday in two cases of terror financing registered by the Counter Terrorism Depart­ment (CTD).

Judge Ejaz Ahmad Buttar handed down the guilty verdict in two FIRs from 2019 under various sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) of 1997.

In one of the cases, the judge awarded five-year impri­sonment each under sections 11-H (2), 11-I, 11-J(2), and 18 months jail under section 11-F(2) of the ATA.

In the other case, the judge awarded a five-year sentence each under sections 11-N, 11-I, 11-J(2) and an 18-month jail term under section 11-F(6) of the ATA.

The judge imposed a collective fine of Rs340,000 on Hafiz Saeed in both cases.

All the sentences will run concurrently.

Judge Ejaz Buttar observed that the prosecution had established the charges of terror financing against the JuD chief and his role in collecting funds for terrorist activities.

“The evidence presented by the prosecution against Hafiz Saeed and Al Dawatul Irshad, an outlawed organisation, was tangible and convincing.”

Several leaders of the JuD, including Hafiz Saeed, are already under detention since July 2019. They had been convicted on the basis of FIRs registered by the CTD on charges of terror fin­a­ncing. Trial proceedings in several others are pending.

The CTD had registered as many as 41 FIRs against the JuD leaders in different cities. Trial courts have so far decided 27 cases.

On July 3 2019, 13 top leaders of the banned JuD, including its chief Saeed and deputy Abdul Rehman Makki, were booked in nearly two dozen cases of terror financing and money laundering under the ATA. Saeed was later arrested by the CTD on July 17 while he was travelling between Gujranwala and Lahore.

The CTD, in a major crackdown against terror financing in 2019, had registered 23 cases against Saeed and 12 aides for using five trusts to “funnel funds to terror suspects”.

The CTD had said it had registered cases under the ATA in Lahore, Gujranwala and Multan against the leadership of banned outfits JuD, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF). Saeed, who is in his 70s, says he is not linked to any group, although he heads the JuD, which is alleged to be the charitable arm of the LeT.

The accused were raising funds using five trusts — Dawatul Irshad Trust, Moaz Bin Jabal Trust, Al Anfaal Trust, Al Madina Foundation Trust and Alhamd Trust.

Those booked included Saeed’s brother-in-law Abdul Rehman Makki, Ameer Hamza, Yahya Aziz. Malik Zafar Iqbal, Muhammad Naeem, Mohsin Bilal, Abdul Raqeeb, Dr Ahmad Daud, Dr Muhammad Ayub, Abdullah Ubaid, Muhammad Ali and Abdul Ghaffar.

The US had praised Pakistan’s jailing of Saeed by an anti-terrorism court after finding him guilty of terror financing and affiliation with an outlawed group.

The conviction “of Hafiz Saeed and his associate is an important step forward — both toward holding LeT accountable for its crimes, and for Pakistan in meeting its international commitments to combat terrorist financing,” Alice Wells, a top US diplomat for South Asia, had tweeted.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1684132/hafiz-saeed-sentenced-to-33-years-in-jail&https://tribune.com.pk/story/2351585/jud-chief-gets-more-jail-time