Altaf Hussain, the founder of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), has been convicted on charges of promoting terrorism in Karachi by a jury in a London court on Tuesday, according to the reports.
On August 22, 2016, the MQM founder was charged with two counts of inciting terrorism while giving two telephone talks from London. Hussain’s attorney advised the court throughout the trial that his client would not testify.
On the third day of deliberations, the jury at the Kingston-upon-Thames crown court returned a 10-to-2 majority verdict in favour of MQM founder. They stated that Hussain did not break the UK’s anti-terrorist laws when he delivered two lectures to his followers in Karachi from London on August 22, 2016.
According to media sources, the jury withdrew for deliberations after the arguments in the case were completed on Friday last week. The judge, Justice May, told the jury that they may come to the conclusion that Hussain didn’t have a response to the prosecution’s evidence, but that they couldn’t convict him solely on the basis of his silence.
The prosecution has to prove guilt, according to Justice May. She also stated that, while it was the prosecution’s view, the prosecution did not have to establish that acts of terrorism occurred, and that the jury would have to decide what purpose and reckless meant.
Hussain did not “respond, apologise, explain” his innocence or give answers to basic inquiries, according to the prosecution. Hussain, on the other hand, did not have anything else to say, according to the defence lawyer. Hussain’s apologies on Twitter following the remarks, according to the attorney, showed his contrition.
The fiery speech was delivered via telephone to a party gathering outside the Karachi Press Club on August 22, 2016, after which party workers chanted anti-Pakistan slogans and vandalised a media office nearby. The MQM founder, who is also wanted by Pakistani authorities in a number of cases, had delivered the fiery speech via telephone to a party gathering outside the Karachi Press Club on August 22, 2016.
Hussain has been charged with terrorism offences by Scotland Yard in October of this year. The remark was said to provoke violence and disruption, according to the report.
Hussain was apprehended on June 11, 2019, on suspicion of breaking Section 44 of the Serious Crimes Act 2007. He was eventually granted bail and released.
For more than two decades, the founder of the MQM has lived in exile in London. In the 1990s, he applied for asylum and eventually became a British citizen. The Pakistani government has repeatedly asked that he be prosecuted for inciting violence in the country.
