LHC allows Hafiz Saeed’s case to be shifted from Gujranwala to Lahore – Pakistan

The Lahore High Court on Monday allowed a terrorist financing case against Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, head of the banned Jamaatud Dawa (JuD), to be transferred from an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Gujranwala to one in Lahore.

The president of the Supreme Court of the LHC, Sardar Shamim Ahmed, heard a petition filed by Saeed in which he was kept in a jail in Lahore but transported to Gujranwala for each court appearance.

He said that in light of the security situation, appearing before the Gujranwala court was not appropriate and added that if he was detained in a jail in Lahore, the case should also be moved there.

During the process, a government lawyer said they had no objections to change the case.

Upon issuing the order, the president of the Supreme Court of the LHC concluded the petition.

In July, Saeed was arrested in connection with the terrorism financing case while heading from Lahore to Gujranwala. Prior to his arrest, the 13 leading JuD leaders, including Saeed and Naib Emir Abdul Rehman Makki, were registered in almost two dozen cases of terrorist financing and money laundering under the 1997 Counter-Terrorism Act.

Last week, the UN Security Council sanctions committee had allowed Pakistan to allow Saeed, a global terrorist appointed by the UN, to use his bank account for personal expenses. Pakistan had frozen its bank accounts in compliance with a UNSC resolution seeking such a ban.