Delhi court awards seven-year jail term to four Al-Qaida men

NEW DELHI: Delhi court on Tuesday awarded an over seven-year jail term to four operatives of Al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), a wing of Al-Qaida, for conspiracy to commit terror activities across the country and recruiting members for the militant outfit.

Special Judge Sanjay Khanagwal awarded seven years and five months' imprisonment to Maulana Mohd Abdul Rehman Kasmi, Mohd Asif, Zafar Masood and Abdul Sami, their advocate Akram Khan said.

The counsel said the convicts have already spent around seven years and three months behind the bars and that period will be considered part of the punishment.

The offences proved by the prosecution carries a maximum punishment of life imprisonment. The judge had on Friday convicted the four and acquitted two alleged AQIS operatives -- Syed Mohd Zishan Ali and Sabeel Ahmed – in the case.

The judge accepted the submissions of both the accused, represented by advocates M S Khan and Qausar Khan, that the prosecution failed to prove the case against them.

The court had in 2017 framed charges against the accused, while it discharged another accused - Syed Anzar Shah – in the case. Delhi Police's Special Cell had alleged that Kasmi ran a madrassa in Uttar Pradesh where several students were enrolled and he was trying to radicalise them for terror activities.

It had also claimed that Masood was propagating terror agenda of AQIS among the youths and trying to lure them towards the terror outfit. While Asif was held from Seelampur in north east Delhi, Kasmi was arrested from Jagatpur area of Cuttack in Odisha, police had said.

The police had claimed that Kasmi was suspected to have international links in countries like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Dubai. It had alleged that the other co-accused were also trying to radicalise youths and propagate the terror agenda of AQIS in India.