Aayushi Srivastava –
Published On: November 08, 2021 at 10:30 IST
A Lahore High Court’s Division Bench headed by Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti and comprising Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh acquitted 6 senior members of banned Jamat-ud-Dawah (JuD) in a Terror-Financing Case.
JuD, led by Hafiz Saeed is believed to be the front Organization for the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
The Lahore High Court set aside a conviction made by a Trial Court in April 2021 that handed nine-year imprisonment each to JuD senior leaders Prof. Malik Zafar Iqbal, Yahya Mujahid (JuD spokesperson), Nasarullah, Samiullah and Umar Bahadur, and six months’ Jail term to Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki (brother-in-law of Saeed) after an FIR was registered by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Punjab Police.
These leaders were found guilty of terror funding by the Trial Court. They had been illegally collecting donations and sponsoring the banned LeT.
The Trial Court also ordered forfeiture of assets obtained via terrorism funds.
However, the Lahore High Court noted that the prosecution “Failed to prove the charge against the appellants beyond reasonable doubt”.
A Court official told News Agency PTI that JuD Leaders’ Petition was allowed after observing that “The statement of the ‘star prosecution witness’ is not reliable as there is no corroboratory evidence”.
The Defence Counsel, representing the JuD leaders, informed the high court that the Al-Anfal Trust, of which the Petitioners are members, had no “Connection with the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).”
The Court dismissed the Prosecution’s claims that the trust in question was acting as a “proxy for the LeT” and that the Appellants were its office-bearers.
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