Hafiz Saeed sentenced to 10 years in terrorism funding case

LAHORE: Jammat ud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed has been sentenced two 10 years in prison in two cases pertaining to terrorism financing.

The sentence was announced by an anti terrorism court which also finded Hafiz Saeed 110,000 PKR and ordered the confiscation of his assets.

In earlier proceedings, the ATC had sentenced three other JuD leaders to imprisonment, including Zafar Iqbal, Yahya Muhajid, and Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki.

Makki, who is Hafiz Saeed’s brother in law was sentenced to only six months while Zafar Iqbal and Yahya Mujahid were sentenced to 16 years in prison.

India had accused Hafiz Saeed of masterminding the 26/11 terrorist attack in Mumbai.

According to the United Nations, “Hafiz Muhammad Saeed is the leader and chief of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) (QDe.118). As overall leader, Saeed played a key role in LeT’s operational and fundraising activities. He is the Amir or leader of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (listed as an alias of LeT).

“Hafiz Muhammad Saeed traveled to Afghanistan during the late 1970s or the early 1980s to receive militant training. There he came into contact with Dr. Abdullah Azzam, the mentor of Usama bin Laden (deceased) and other fighters in Afghanistan. In 2005, Saeed determined where graduates of a LeT camp in Pakistan should be sent to fight, and personally organized the infiltration of LeT militants into Iraq during a trip to Saudi Arabia. In 2006, Saeed oversaw the management of a terrorist camp, including funding of the camp. Saeed also arranged for a LeT operative to be sent to Europe as LeT’s European fundraising coordinator. He established a LeT office in Quetta, Pakistan in June 2006 to assist the Taliban in the conduct of their operations in Afghanistan.”

In April 2012, the United States announced a bounty of $10 million on Hafiz Saeed.