LAHORE, Pakistan — A Pakistani court on Wednesday handed down a five-year prison term to a radical cleric for terrorism financing.
Hafiz Saaed is wanted by Washington and New Delhi for his alleged role in the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people in neighboring India. The United States put a $10 million bounty out for his arrest.
The Pakistani court was not trying the cleric in connection with that attack, but on charges that his charity organizations, Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Falah-e-Insaniat, are fronts for funding the militant group that he founded, Lashkar-e-Taiba. India blames that group for the attacks in Mumbai.
Saeed and the four other suspects were present in the courtroom when the judge announced the much-awaited verdict.
Saeed was given a five-year prison term on terrorism financing charges in one case, plus six months in jail in another case registered against him in the eastern Punjab province.
The sentences can be appealed.
associated press