LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Lahore on Thursday handed proscribed outfit Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed 10-and-a-half years in jail in two cases pertaining to terror financing and money laundering.
The ATC verdict. Photo: Twitter
Accountability court Judge Arshad Hussain Bhutta also slapped a fine of Rs110,000 on him and ordered authorities to confiscate his “move and immoveable” properties.
Saeed’s two aides — Zafar Iqbal and Yahya Mujahid — were also slapped with a similar prison time, while his brother-in-law, JuD deputy chief Abdul Rehman Makki, has been handed six-month imprisonment.
Punjab police’s Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) had arrested Saeed in July last year in connection with a terrorism financing case while on his way from Lahore to Gujranwala.
Last year, the top 13 leaders of JuD, including Saeed and Makki, were booked in nearly two dozen cases for terror financing and money laundering under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.
The CTD, which registered the cases in five cities of Punjab, declared the party was financing terrorism from the massive funds collected through non-profit organisations and trusts including Al-Anfaal Trust, Dawatul Irshad Trust, Muaz Bin Jabal Trust.
These non-profit organisations were banned in April as the CTD during detailed investigations found that they had links with the JuD and its top leadership, accused of financing terrorism by building huge assets/properties from the collected funds in Pakistan.
