Lahore

Six members of the outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) terror organisation, founded by Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) chief and 26/11 Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, have been acquitted by a Pakistan court in a terror funding case.

Advertisment

On Saturday, the Lahore High Court set aside a trial court’s conviction, which had sentenced nine-year imprisonment to each Prof Malik Zafar Iqbal, Samiullah and Umar Bahadur and a six-month jail term to Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki.

“The appellants challenged their conviction before a division bench of the LHC comprising Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti and Justice. Their counsel argued that the prosecution failed to prove the charge against the appellants beyond a reasonable doubt," Pakistani media reported.

The counsel for the appellants argued that the Al-Anfaal Trust, of whom they were members, had no nexus with the proscribed LeT.

Advertisment

In April, the anti-terrorism court (ATC) Lahore found these leaders guilty of terror financing.

Also read | Bowing down? Pakistan PM Imran Khan approves TLP's de-proscription

They had been collecting funds and unlawfully financing the proscribed organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). It had also ordered the confiscation of assets made from funds collected through terrorism financing.

Advertisment

LeT founder Saeed has also been convicted in dozens of FIRs registered on charges of terror financing. The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Punjab Police had registered as many as 41 FIRs against the leaders of the JuD in different cities.

The trial courts have so far decided 37 of them.

Also read | Pakistan: Hafiz Saeed pleads not guilty on terrorism financing charges

The ATC had sentenced Saeed to collective imprisonment of 36 years on terror finance charges under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 in five cases so far. Saeed’s jail terms will run concurrently meaning he will not stay in jail for many years.

He is serving his term in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail along with other convicted JuD leaders. He was arrested in July 2019.

The US named Saeed ‘Specially Designated Global Terrorist’, and since 2012, has offered a US $ 10-million reward for information that brings Saeed to justice.

He was listed as a terrorist under the UN Security Council Resolution in 2008.

(With inputs from agencies)