SAN FRANCISCO, June 15: A federal jury in Chicago has convicted Mohammad Azam Hussain, a sector in-charge of the MQM Haqiqi for lying to US immigration officials of concealing his membership of the MQM that prosecutors say has a violent history. He was convicted of concealing his membership of the Haqiqi faction of the Mohajir Quami Movement in Pakistan while trying to become a naturalized US citizen in 2003.

Mr Azam Hussain, 37, faces up to 10 years in prison, but prosecutors said his sentence would likely be substantially less. He has been in custody since September last year.

Before he came to the United States in 1994, Azam Hussain was “a sector in-charge” for the Haqiqi faction, described by prosecutors as a mid-level post in which he was in charge of a neighbourhood in Karachi.

He has admitted he was close to Afaq Ahmad, founder and leader of the Haqiqi faction, who was arrested last year in Pakistan, US authorities said.