An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan on Friday sentenced Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed to 32 years’ imprisonment in two terror financing cases, PTI reported.
Judge Ejaz Ahmad Bhuttar pronounced the sentence in the cases registered by the Counter Terrorism Department of Pakistan’s Punjab Police.
The Lashkar-e-Taiba founder has already been sentenced to 36 years’ imprisonment in five other such cases. He has been lodged in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail since 2019.
Saeed is wanted in India for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attack that killed 166 people, including six Americans. Saeed is also a United Nations-designated terrorist and has a $10 million, or over Rs 74 crore, bounty on him.
In August 2020, Pakistan had included Saeed’s name along with that of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and some Taliban members in its list of terrorists. It imposed an arms embargo and travel ban on the terrorist and also froze their assets.
The decision was made in an attempt to show Pakistan’s commitment towards the Financial Action Task Force, which has retained the country on its “grey list”. The grey list refers to countries that are under increased monitoring.
In its latest report in October, the FATF said that among the points that Pakistan had not yet complied with was prosecuting leaders of United Nations-designated terror groups, including Saeed and Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar.
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