LAHORE: Pakistani Islamist militant Hafiz Saeed, the alleged mastermind of deadly 2008 attacks in Mumbai, pleaded not guilty on Friday in a second case on charges of financing terrorism, a government prosecutor and a defense lawyer said.
Saeed, who was indicted on similar charges in another case on Dec 11, was presented in an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore, prosecutor Abdur Rauf Watto told Reuters.
Defense lawyer Imran Gill said the second case was related to Saeed’s charity operations. “The militant charities the accused ran collected illegal funds,” Watto said.
Saeed is the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), or the Army of the Pure, a militant group blamed by the United States and India for the four-day Mumbai siege in which 160 people were killed. Foreigners, including Americans, were among the dead.
Pakistan’s counterterrorism police arrested Saeed in July, days before a visit to Washington by Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The indictments came ahead of a meeting of world financial watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) early next year that will decide whether to blacklist Pakistan for its failure to curb terror financing.
The United States has offered a reward of $10 million for information leading to the conviction of Saeed, who has been arrested and released several times over the past decade.
Washington has long pressured Pakistan to try Saeed, who is designated a terrorist by the United States and the United Nations.
The Islamist has denied any involvement in the Mumbai attacks and says his network, which spans 300 seminaries and schools, hospitals, a publishing house and ambulance services, has no ties to militant groups.
Pakistani Islamist leader pleads not guilty on terrorism financing charges
https://arab.news/2mhdq
Pakistani Islamist leader pleads not guilty on terrorism financing charges
- Hafiz Saeed is facing charges of financing terrorism
- The US has offered a reward of $10 million for information leading to his conviction
Suicide bomber kills seven, injures 25 at wedding ceremony in northwest Pakistan
- The attack targeted home of pro-government community leader
- No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack
DERA ISMAIL KHAN: A suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest among guests at a wedding ceremony in northwest Pakistan on Friday, killing at least seven people and wounding 25 others, police said.
The attack took place at the home of Noor Alam Mehsud, a pro-government community leader in Dera Ismail Khan, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said local police chief Adnan Khan. He said officers transported the dead and injured to a hospital, where some of the wounded were listed in critical condition.
Witnesses said guests, were attending the ceremony, with some dancing to the beat of drums, when the bomber struck.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. However, suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, who are also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP and which has carried out numerous attacks in the country in recent years. The group is separate from but is seen as an ally of the Afghan Taliban.
TTP has been emboldened since the Afghan Taliban retuned to power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021 when US and NATO troops left the country after 20 years of war. Many TTP leaders and fighters have found sanctuaries in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover there.
