LHC shifts Hafiz Saeed’s case from Gujranwala to Lahore

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LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday shifted a terrorism financing case against the outlawed religious outfit Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed from an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Gujranwala to one in Lahore.

The decision came as LHC Chief Justice Sardar Shamim Ahmed heard a petition filed by Saeed wherein he said that he was being kept in a jail in Lahore but was transported to Gujranwala for every hearing.

He maintained that in light of the security situation, appearing before the Gujranwala court was not fitting adding that if he was being held in a jail in Lahore, the case should also be shifted there. To which, the prosecutor said that the government had no objection to shifting the case.

Issuing the order, the LHC chief justice wrapped up the petition.

In July, Saeed was arrested in connection with the terrorism financing case while on his way from Lahore to Gujranwala. Prior to his arrest, the top 13 leaders of JuD, including Saeed and Naib Emir (deputy chief) Abdul Rehman Makki, were booked in nearly two dozen cases for terror financing and money laundering under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

Last week, the sanctions committee of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) had allowed Saeed, designated as a global terrorist by the UN body, to use his bank account for personal expenses. Prior to that, Pakistan had frozen his bank accounts in compliance with a UNSC resolution seeking such a ban.