Hafiz Saeed, wanted by U.S. after 2008 Mumbai bombings, sentenced to 31 years in prison
A Pakistani court docket sentenced Islamist chief Hafiz Saeed, founding father of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the militant group blamed by the USA and India for the 2008 Mumbai siege, to 31 years in jail in two circumstances of terrorism financing, court docket paperwork confirmed on Friday.
He was discovered responsible of a number of breaches within the two circumstances, however it was not instantly clear how a lot jail time it will entail given his present incarceration and the sentences operating concurrently.
“The sentences awarded to convict Hafiz Muhammad Saeed run concurrently of this case and of beforehand awarded, if any,” stated a court docket order, dated April 7, that was seen by Reuters.
Saeed is already in jail having been discovered responsible on a number of related prices in 2020.
Saeed has been arrested and launched a number of occasions previously — together with in reference to 2001 and 2006 assaults on Indian soil — and he is denied involvement with militancy, together with the 2008 Mumbai siege during which 160 individuals have been killed, together with two Canadians and 6 People.
The USA in 2012 supplied a reward of $10 million US for info resulting in the conviction of Saeed, and Lashkar-e-Taiba was designated a terrorist entity by each Canada and the U.S. within the early 2000s.
The conviction comes as Pakistan tries to keep away from punitive blacklisting by world soiled cash watchdog the Monetary Motion Activity Drive, which judges a rustic’s capability to fight illicit financing, together with to militant organizations.
