Pakistani Court sentences 10 years jail term to JuD Chief Hafiz Saeed

Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Pakistan on November 19, 2020, sentenced ten years of jail to Hafiz Saeed in two terror funding related cases. He is a 26/11 Mumbai Terror Attack Mastermind and Chief of Jamat-ud-Dawah (JuD).

In 2020, this will be the fourth conviction of Hafiz Saeed. In February 2020, he was sentenced to 11 years in jail by an anti-terrorism court in two terror funding cases. Currently, Saeed is lodged at Lahore’s high-security Kot Lakhpat Jail.

The court has also sentenced 10 years imprisonment for three other terrorists of JuD. While Yahya Mujahid and Zafar Iqbal have been sentenced to a cumulative jail term of ten and a half-years, Abdul Rehman Makki has been given 6 months of imprisonment. The conviction is given by the anti-terror court in Lahore who has also ordered to confiscate all the properties of Hafiz Saeed.

An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan sentences Jamat-ud-Dawa head Hafiz Saeed to 10-year imprisonment in an illegal funding case: Pakistan media
(file pic) pic.twitter.com/98Gf0Cn8si

— ANI (@ANI) November 19, 2020

Who is Hafiz Saeed?

Saeed is an UN-designated terrorist whom the United States has placed a USD 10 million bounty on. Hafiz Saeed is also known as the mastermind behind the 26/11 Mumbai Terror Attack.

He is a co-founder of Lashkar-e- Taiba (LeT) and is the Chief of Jamat-ud-Dawah (JuD), operating mainly from Pakistan.

Saeed has been designated by the US Department of Treasury as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist and was also listed under the UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008. He was arrested on July 17, 2019, in the terror funding cases and has been currently serving 5 years sentence for another terror financing case in Lahore. 

Hafiz Saeed led JuD and its role in the Mumbai Terror Attack:

Jamat-ud-Dawah (JuD) led by Hafiz Saeed is the front organization for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which is responsible for the deadly Mumbai Terror Attack in 2008 that killed at least 174 people. The attacks by LeT drew widespread global condemnation. It began on November 26 and lasted till November 29, 2008.

Cases registered against JuD leaders:

The counter-terrorism department has registered a total of 41 cases against leaders of JuD. In July 2019, the top 13 members of Jamat-ud-Dawah including Saeed were booked in nearly two dozen cases for terror funding and money laundering under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 of Pakistan.

Subsequently, Hafiz Saeed was arrested from Gujranwala on the charges of terror funding by the Punjab Counter-Terrorism Department.