Mumbai attack mastermind and Lashkar-e-Taiba operations commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi was sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment by a Pakistani anti-terrorism court in Lahore in a terror financing case on Friday. UN proscribed terrorist Lakhvi, 61, who was on bail since 2015 in the Mumbai attack case, was arrested by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab province on Saturday.
“The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Lahore convicted Lakhvi for commission of offences of terrorism financing in a case registered by the CTD for 15 years under different section of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997,” a court official told PTI after the hearing. Judge Ejaz Ahmad Buttar sentenced Lakhvi to five years of rigorous imprisonment each on three counts with a fine of PKR 100,000 each on three counts. “In default of payment of fine, he will have to undergo an imprisonment of six months each on three counts. He has been sent to prison to serve the sentences,” the official said. Earlier on Thursday, an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan issued an arrest warrant for banned Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar on the charges of terror financing.
On January 2, Pakistan had announced that it has arrested Mumbai attack mastermind and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operations commander Lakhvi in Lahore on terror financing charges. The UN proscribed terrorist, was on bail since 2015 in the Mumbai attack case. He was arrested by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab province in January amidst a growing international pressure on Pakistan to bring to justice terrorists roaming free in the country. The UN Security Council’s 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee had recently allowed for a monthly payment of Pakistani Rupee 1.5 lakh for Lakhvi to meet his personal expenses.
