LAHORE: A court in Pakistan has sentenced to prison three leaders of Jamat-ud-Dawa, an organization accused by India and the United States of masterminding the 2008 attacks in Mumbai.
The sentencing comes ahead of a September deadline for Pakistan to avoid being blacklisted for failing to curb terror financing by global financial watchdog the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
Inclusion on the blacklist, alongside Iran and North Korea, would mean being shunned by international financial institutions. The watchdog has called for Pakistan to prosecute those funding terrorism, as well as to enact laws to help track and stop terror financing.
Malik Zafar Iqbal and Abdul Salam were each handed 16-1/2 year total sentences on four charges, to be served concurrently, while a third man, Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki, got 1-1/2 years on one charge, according to a court judgment seen by Reuters.
The men were associates of Hafiz Saeed, who was sentenced to a total of 11 years in prison in February. All the sentences are concurrent so Saeed, Iqbal and Salam will serve five years.
Saeed founded and led Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), or the Army of the Pure, a group blamed by India and the United States for the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which killed 160 people, including Americans and other foreigners.
Saeed and his associates also face a further slew of cases for allegedly financing militant activities, while Iqbal and Makki have already been convicted in several cases.
Saeed says his network, which spans 300 seminaries and schools, hospitals, a publishing house and ambulance services, has no ties to militant groups. Jamat-ud-Dawa funds the militant wing LeT.
A 2011 US sanctions designation describes Iqbal as a co-founder of LeT and in charge of its financing activities. Salam is described as the interim leader of the group during the brief periods when Saeed was arrested in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks, and running its network of seminaries.
Pakistan jails three accused of financing Mumbai attacks
https://arab.news/zyx8p
Pakistan jails three accused of financing Mumbai attacks
- The men were associates of Hafiz Saeed, who was sentenced to a total of 11 years in prison in February
- The sentencing comes ahead of the Financial Action Task Force's September deadline for Pakistan
Court sentences Pakistan ex-PM Imran Khan, wife to 17 years in prison in graft case
- The case involves a jewelry set worth over €380,000 gifted to the former first lady when Khan was PM
- The couple were convicted of undervaluing the gift and buying it at a lesser price from state repository
ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani court on Saturday sentenced former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, to 17 years in prison each in a graft case, dealing another major legal blow to the jailed opposition leader who faces a string of cases.
The reference, popularly called the new Toshakhana case, was filed in July 2024 and involves a jewelry set worth over €380,000 gifted to the former first lady by a foreign dignitary when Khan was prime minister from 2018-2022.
The couple, accused of undervaluing the gift and buying it at a lesser price from the state repository, were indicted in the case in Dec. last year. In October, they denied the charges against them, saying the case was a “politically motivated” attempt to disqualify Khan from politics.
Both Khan and his wife were handed down 10-year rigorous imprisonment under sections 34 (common intention) and 409 (criminal breach of trust) of the Pakistan Penal Code, and seven years under Section 5(2) (criminal misconduct by public servants) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
“This court, while passing sentences has considered the old age of Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi, as well as the fact that Bushra Imran Khan is a female,” read a copy of the court verdict.
“It is in consideration of both said factors that a lenient view has been taken in awarding lesser punishment.”
Khan, who has been in jail since August 2023, faces a slew of cases which the former premier says have been politically motivated.
His Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has long campaigned against the military and government, accusing the generals of ousting him together with his rivals. Khan’s opponents deny this, while the military says it does not meddle in politics.
On Friday, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) acquitted Khan aide and former foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, but awarded 10-year prison sentences to senior PTI figures, including Dr. Yasmin Rashid, Mian Mehmood-ur-Rashid, Omer Sarfraz Cheema and former senator Ejaz Chaudhry in a case linked to violent riots in May 2023.
