A Pakistani antiterrorism court has sentenced the former leader of a banned party to six months in jail for hate speech.
Mufti Tanveer Alam Farooqi, a former leader within the anti-Shi'ite organization Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASJW), was jailed on October 5 for six months and fined 50,000 rupees ($480) by a Rawalpindi court.
The ASJW is considered the political entity of the extremist Lashkar-e Jhangvi, which is behind numerous deadly attacks on Pakistan's minority Shi'a population.
ASJW was officially banned in 2012 but was still allowed to hold rallies and gatherings around Pakistan until this summer.
Much of the leadership of Lashkar-e Jhangvi was wiped out in a battle with police in the eastern city of Lahore in June.
Pakistan has cracked down on sectarian groups under an antiterrorism plan initiated after a December attack by the Taliban on a Peshawar school killed 153 people, mostly children.
