Zaheerul Hassan Shah, the leader of the banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party, was arrested last year.
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A Pakistani anti-terrorism court has sentenced a senior cleric from a banned Islamist political party to 35 years in prison for inciting violence.
The sentence is related to a public call for the assassination of the country's then-chief justice more than a year ago, court officials and defense lawyers said on Tuesday.
Zahirul Hassan Shah, a leader of the banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party, was arrested last year. He was accused of circulating a video on social media in which he announced a reward of 10 million Pakistani rupees (about 36,000 US dollars) for anyone who beheaded then-chief justice Qazi Faiz Isa.
Chief Justice Isa faced intense criticism from hardline religious groups last year after granting bail to a member of the minority Ahmadi community in a blasphemy case. Although Ahmadiyya is considered a branch of Islam, Pakistan's parliament formally declared the Ahmadi community non-Muslim in 1974. Since then, Ahmadi homes and places of worship have often been targeted by Sunni militant groups, who consider them heretics.
Shah was convicted by an anti-terrorism court in the eastern city of Lahore on Monday, according to defense lawyer Maqsood-ul-Haq and court officials. The court said his statements and public calls had incited hatred and incited violence, and sentenced him to a stiff sentence.
The verdict came less than two months after the Pakistani government banned the TLP party. The party was banned after deadly clashes between party supporters and security forces during a rally in support of Gaza. TLP leader Saad Rizvi has been missing since the clashes. Police say Rizvi fled to Pakistan-administered Kashmir during unrest that began in early October while he was leading a march from Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, to Islamabad.
This development has once again brought issues of religious extremism, freedom of expression, and the security of minority communities to the center of serious debate in Pakistan.
