26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed challenges his conviction for multiple years in Pak court

Lahore: Mumbai terror attack mastermind and banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah's chief Hafiz Saeed has filed a petition in a Pakistani court, challenging his conviction for multiple years in terror financing cases, a court official said on Thursday.

"Saeed and some other leaders of Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) have filed a petition in the Lahore High Court requesting it to set aside their conviction in terror financing cases for multiple years," the court official told PTI.

He said a two-member bench of the LHC comprising Justices Shahbaz Rizvi and Tariq Mahmood Bajwa has fixed the petition for hearing. The date of the hearing will be notified later.  Saeed, a UN-designated terrorist on whom the US had placed a USD 10 million bounty, was arrested in July 2019 in the terror financing cases.

Saeed, who has been in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat Jail since 2019, was subsequently convicted in terror financing cases for multiple years. However, there are unconfirmed reports that Saeed is not in jail and is living in a "safe place." He is the founder of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that killed 166 people.