LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court on Wednesday convicted three leaders of the bannned Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) in another a case of terror financing.

Announcing the guilty verdict in a case registered in 2019, Presiding Judge Ijaz Ahmad Buttar handed down sentence of 15 years and half month imprisonment to Zafar Iqbal and Yahya Mujahid each, while JuD leader Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki was jailed for six months.

All the convicts were present in the court when the judge announced the verdict.

The judge convicted the JuD leaders under different provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.

Later, the convicts were also produced before another court for the trial proceedings in two more cases.

The court recorded evidence of two prosecution witnesses and adjourned the hearing for Thursday (today).

Several leaders of the banned JuD, including its chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, had been under detention since July 2019. They had been convicted in various FIRs registered by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) on the charges of terror financing, while the trial proceedings in several others were still pending.

The CTD had registered as many as 41 FIRs against the JuD leaders in different cities. The trial courts have so far decided 25 of the cases.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2020