An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan on Friday sentenced Mumbai terror attack mastermind and banned Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed to 32 years in jail in two more terror financing cases.
Earlier, the 71-year-old radical cleric had already been convicted for 36 years imprisonment in five terror financing cases. The total sentence of 68 years will run concurrently and, therefore, Saeed may have to spend not many years in jail, a lawyer told PTI.
On Friday, anti-terrorism court (ATC) judge Ejaz Ahmad Bhuttar sentenced Saeed to 32 years jail in two FIRs registered by the Counter Terrorism Department of the Punjab Police, a court official told PTI.
The court also imposed a fine of Pakistan Rs 340,000 on Saeed. He was brought to the court from the Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore where he has been imprisoned since 2019 under strict security, the official said.
Saeed, a UN-designated terrorist on whom the US has placed a $10 million bounty, was arrested in July 2019 in the terror financing cases. The Saeed-led JuD is the front organisation for the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people, including six Americans.
Saeed is a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, according to the US department of the treasury.
The global terror financing watchdog Financial Action Task Force is instrumental in pushing Pakistan to take measures against terrorists roaming freely in the country and using its territory to carry out attacks in India. Pakistan has been on the “grey list” of the Paris-based force since June 2018 for failing to check money laundering, which leads to terror financing.