A Pakistani court convicted three leaders of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), including the brother-in-law of LeT founder Hafiz Saeed, Abdul Rahman Makki, in a terrorist financing case and them gave prison sentences ranging from 18 months to more than 16 years.
Makki, one of the top JuD leaders for whom the US State Department has announced a $ 2 million reward, Malik Zafar Iqbal and Hafiz Abdul Salam Bhuttavi were convicted by Judge Ejaz Ahmad Buttar of an anti-terror court in Lahore on Friday.
The court awarded a collective prison sentence of 16 and a half years to Iqbal and Bhuttavi, while Makki received a prison term of one and a half years, according to Pakistani media reports. Iqbal and Salam were also fined 170,000 rupees, while Makki was ordered to pay a fine of 20,000 rupees.
Iqbal and Bhuttavi were named in one of two regulatory orders issued by the Pakistani Foreign Ministry on August 18 to enforce UN Security Council sanctions against hundreds of terrorists and 93 terrorist entities.
Iqbal was described in the notice as a senior leader and co-founder of LeT who has held various positions of responsibility at LeT and JUD. “As of 2010, he was in charge of LeT / JUD’s finance department, head of its education department and chair of its medical wing,” the notice read. Bhuttavi was described as a founding member of LeT and a deputy for Hafiz Saeed.
Makki, designated a terrorist by the US Treasury Department in 2010, has yet to be sanctioned by the UN. He has headed LeT’s political affairs and foreign affairs departments and played a key role in raising funds for the group.
The case against the three men was brought by the Anti-Terrorism Department of Punjab province in Pakistan. They were charged under various provisions of the 1997 Anti-Terrorism Act.
In February, Hafiz Saeed and an aide received a five-and-a-half-year prison sentence in two terrorist financing cases by a counter-terrorism court in Lahore. The case against Saeed was also brought by the Counter-Terrorism Department.
In the latest case, the prosecution said the three men had been using property in the Vehari district that was in the name of the Al-Hamad Trust, a banned organization, to achieve their terrorism goals. By using this property, the trust also raised funds for terrorism.
The court ruled that this property should be assumed by the state.
The Counter-Terrorism Department had registered 23 FIRs against JuD leaders in different cities of the Punjab province in Pakistan.
Indian officials did not immediately react to the conviction of the three men.
India remains skeptical of Pakistan’s action so far against LeT, JuD and other groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed, and officials say such steps are being taken with a view to an upcoming assessment of the country’s terrorist financing regime by part of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in October.
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