Hafiz Saeed to record statements in terror funding cases

From Abid Usman LAHORE: An Anti-Terrorism Court has summoned JamaatudDawa (JuD) leader Hafiz Saeed to record his closing statement on Friday after it wrapped up the trial of two terror financing cases against him. Trials of both the cases against the JuD leader wrapped up on Thursday. The cases, heard by ATC judge Malik ArshadBhutt, were registered by the Counter- Terrorism Department (CTD) over charges of accumulating illegal funding. Deputy Prosecutor General Abdul RaufWattu represented the state in the case where statements of 23 witnesses were recorded. On December 11, 2019, Saeed and four other JuD leaders were indicted by the court, six months after they were booked for offences pertaining to terror financing. The JuD leaders denied the allegations against them as being baseless and a result of international pressure on the Pakistan government. They claimed that they have been charged in the cases by wrongly attributing them as leaders of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). They pleaded that it was an admitted fact, supported by the superior courts

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