ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Thursday issued a verdict against Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the founder of a proscribed militant entity called Jamaat-ud-Dawa, giving him a 10-year prison sentence in a terror financing case.
The ATC in Lahore also sentenced three other JuD members who happen to be Saeed’s close associates. These include Yahya Mujahid and Saeed’s brother-in-law Abdul Rehman Makki.
Several terror financing cases have been registered against the JuD leader, who was declared a global terrorist by the United States and United Nations in 2008.
Under pressure from the international community, Pakistan started probing the proscribed organization and its affiliated groups in July 2019.
Pakistan also formally banned Saeed’s two charities last year.
The JuD founder is accused of being the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks that claimed the lives of nearly 160 people in India’s commercial capital.
In 2012, the United Nations Security Council placed sanctions on his organization and declared its office bearers terrorists.
The US also placed a $10 million bounty on Saeed's head.
