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A Pakistani Anti-terrorism court gives restrictive sentence to a senior leader islamic Court officials and a defense lawyer said Tuesday that the party will face 35 years in prison for inciting violence, more than a year after the cleric publicly called for the assassination of the country’s then-chief justice.
Zaheerul Hasan Shah, leader of the banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, was arrested last year after a video circulated on social media showing him offering 10 million rupees ($36,000) to anyone who beheaded then Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa.
Isa faced criticism from fundamentalist religious groups last year after granting bail to a man from the minority Ahmadi community in a blasphemy case.
Ahmadi religion is a branch of? islamBut the Parliament of Pakistan declared Ahmadis as non-Muslims in 1974. Ahmadi homes and places of worship are often targeted. sunni Extremists, who consider them heretics.
Defense lawyer Maqsood-ul-Haq and court officials said Shah was convicted on Monday by an anti-terrorism court in the eastern city. Lahore,
The latest development comes less than two months after the Pakistan government banned the TLP party following deadly clashes between party supporters and police during a pro-Gaza rally.
Party leader Saad Rizvi is missing after those clashes.
Police say Rizvi fled to Pakistan-administered Kashmir during the unrest, which began in early October when Rizvi led a march on Islamabad from Lahore, the capital of Punjab province.