An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan has sentenced a member of a religious outfit to 30-year imprisonment for opening fire and injuring former interior minister Ahsan Iqbal in the PML-N government in May.
The court in Gujranwala on Saturday also ordered confiscation of assets of 22-year-old Abid Hussain and imposed a fine of Rs 280,000 on him.
The convict would have to undergo an additional six-month imprisonment in case of his failure to pay the fine.
According to a court official, Judge Syed Imran Shah handed down 27-year imprisonment to Hussain for shooting at Iqbal and another three-year jail term for carrying illegal weapons.
The judge said the convict made an assassination attempt on the former interior minister in ex-Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi's Cabinet by shooting at him during an election rally in Narowal, some 100 kilometres from Lahore, on May 6.
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The court acquitted four accomplices of the convict by giving them the benefit of doubt.
Hussain, a member of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), in his statement to police said he had attacked Iqbal as his government hurt the sentiments of Muslims by attempting to change the law related to Khattam-e-Nubawat (finality of Prophethood).
The TLP is an Islamic political party in Pakistan with Islamic ideology. The party is known for widespread street power and massive protests in opposition to any change in the blasphemy law of Pakistan.
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