KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Monday acquitted for want of evidence a man, said to be associated with the militant Islamic State group, in a case pertaining to his alleged involvement in terror financing.

Accused Abdul Malik, who had been arrested by the Counter Terrorism Department for possessing an unlicensed weapon, had allegedly disclosed during interrogation that he was associated with Daesh, the Arabic acronym for IS.

According to the prosecution, the accused had been involved in terror financing through hawala/hundi. It added that from 2019 to 2022, he had allegedly been providing funds from Karachi to facilitate the organisation’s operatives in carrying out terrorist activities.

The CTD had booked him for offences under Sections 11-N (punishment for fundraising and money laundering) and 21-I (aiding and abetment) of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

On Monday, after hearing arguments from the prosecution and defence counsel Abid Zaman and Mushtaq Ahmed Sheikh, the judge of ATC-12, who conducted the trial at the Judicial Complex inside Central Prison Karachi, acquitted Malik as the prosecution had failed to establish its case against him.

Defence counsel Zaman told Dawn that the court had directed the jail authorities to release the accused if he was not required in any other case.

During the trial, the counsel argued that the prosecution had failed to establish any link between his client and the alleged offence of terror financing.

Advocate Zaman added that the bank accounts allegedly used for terror financing were not in his client’s name, adding that the individuals in whose names the accounts were registered had not been made accused but were instead produced as witnesses.

He pointed out that while the prosecution claimed the accused had photographs with an IS operative in Afghanistan, he argued that a mere picture did not establish association with the group.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2025