LHC suspends one-year jail term of two JuD leaders

LAHORE: Lahore High Court’s two-member bench Thursday suspended a one-year jail sentence of two senior leaders of the Jamaatud Dawa and close aides of its chief Hafiz Saeed, in a terror-financing case.

The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Lahore in February had handed down one-year imprisonment to Abdul Rehman Makki and Abdus Salam for terror-financing. Both the leaders had challenged their conviction in the Lahore High Court through appeals.

The Bench comprising Justice Asjad Javed Gural and Justice Waheed Ahmed Khan held the hearing on their appeals as well as petitions seeking suspension of sentence. After hearing the arguments from both defence and prosecution, the court accepted petitions of Makki and Salam and suspended the ATC sentence and issued notice to State on their main appeals. The bench also ordered their release on bail. Both the leaders were serving their sentence at the Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore.

Makki, the head of JuD’s political and international affairs wing and in charge of its charity Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), was arrested during a crackdown on the outlawed organisations in May.

In February, Saeed was sentenced to five and a half years each in two cases of terror-financing by an ATC of Lahore. Both sentences will run concurrently. Saeed is serving his term in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail. He was arrested in July last year.

ATC judge had sentenced Abdul Rehman Makki and Abdul Salam to one-year imprisonment each under Section 11-F (6) of the ATA with Rs20,000 fine.

The CTD had in 2019 registered an FIR against the convicts and others under Sections 11-F (2) (5) (6), 11-H (2), H-I, 11-I, 11-N, and J-2 of the ATA 1997.

Section 11-N of the ATA prescribes the punishment for offences committed under Sections 11H to 11K, which pertain to fundraising, using personal assets, arranging funds or money-laundering for the purpose of terrorism.

Under Section 11-F (2), a person is guilty of an offence if he is affiliated with or professes to belonging to a proscribed organization.

On July 3 last year, 13 top leaders of the banned outfit, including its chief Hafiz Saeed and Naib amir Abdul Rehman Makki, were booked in nearly two dozen cases of terror- financing and money-laundering under the ATA. Hafiz Saeed was later arrested by the CTD on July 17 while he was travelling from Gujranwala to Lahore.

The CTD, in a major crackdown on terror-financing last year, registered 23 cases against Saeed and 12 aides for using five trusts to “funnel funds to terror suspects”.

The CTD said it had registered cases under the ATA in Lahore, Gujranwala and Multan against the leadership of banned outfits JuD, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF). Hafiz Saeed, 70, says he is not linked to any group, although he heads the JuD, which is alleged to be the charitable arm of the LeT. The accused were raising funds using five trusts — Dawatul Irshad Trust, Moaz bin Jabal Trust, Al Anfaal Trust, Al Madina Foundation Trust and Alhamd Trust.