Pakistan court sentences banned TLP cleric to 35 years jail for inciting violence against ex chief justice

General A Pakistani anti-terrorism court has sentenced a senior Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan leader to 35 years in prison for publicly inciting violence against the former chief justice

A Pakistani anti-terrorism court has handed down a major verdict against a hardline religious figure, sentencing him to decades in prison for inciting violence against the country’s former chief justice. The ruling comes more than a year after the public call and amid a broader crackdown on the banned group he represented.

Zaheerul Hassan Shah, a senior leader of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, was sentenced to 35 years in prison by an anti-terrorism court for inciting violence. Court officials and defence lawyer Maqsood-ul-Haq said the conviction was delivered on Monday by the court in the eastern city of Lahore.

Shah 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 Faez Isa. Isa had drawn criticism from hardline religious groups after granting bail to a man from the minority Ahmadi community in a blasphemy case.

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Who are the Ahmadi

The Ahmadi religion is an offshoot of Islam, but Pakistan’s parliament declared Ahmadis non-Muslims in 1974. Ahmadi homes and places of worship are often targeted by Sunni militants, who consider them heretical.

The sentencing comes less than two months after Pakistan’s government banned the TLP party following deadly clashes between its supporters and police during a pro-Gaza rally. Since those clashes, the party’s leader, Saad Rizvi, has been missing. Police say Rizvi fled to Pakistan-administered Kashmir during the unrest, which began in early October after he led a march on Islamabad from Lahore, the capital of Punjab province.