ISLAMABAD — Pakistan has jailed five military officers, convicting them of links to a banned Muslim political group at a court martial, the army said Friday.
It is the first time that senior army officers have been convicted and jailed over associations with banned organisations in the country on the frontline of the US-led war on Al-Qaeda and fighting its own Taliban insurgency.
The army did not name the organisation in a statement announcing the sentences, but officials have in the past identified it as Hizb ut-Tahrir.
The group, which is headquartered Britain, does not outwardly advocate violence, but has been accused of links to violent extremist groups.
The army said the most senior officer to be convicted, Brigadier Ali Khan, had been sentenced to five years' rigorous imprisonment.
The other four, all ranked major, were sentenced to three years, two years, and two each to one year and six months, the military said.
The army said the convicts have the right to appeal, but provided no further details.
Khan was detained days after US Navy SEALs found and killed Osama bin Laden in the military town of Abbottabad on May 2, 2011, reviving disturbing questions about ignorance or complicity within Pakistan's powerful military.
Hizb ut-Tahrir is not banned in Britain, but has been outlawed in Pakistan and lies on the fringes of Western concerns about links between the military and terror groups.
According to its website, it aims to resume the Islamic way of life by establishing an Islamic state that executes the systems of Islam and carries its call to the world.
Since bin Laden was killed, Pakistan has been under increasing pressure from the United States to crack down on militant sanctuaries in its northwestern border areas with Afghanistan and cut all ties with extremist Islamist networks.
It is the first time that senior army officers have been convicted and jailed over associations with banned organisations in the country on the frontline of the US-led war on Al-Qaeda and fighting its own Taliban insurgency.
The army did not name the organisation in a statement announcing the sentences, but officials have in the past identified it as Hizb ut-Tahrir.
The group, which is headquartered Britain, does not outwardly advocate violence, but has been accused of links to violent extremist groups.
The army said the most senior officer to be convicted, Brigadier Ali Khan, had been sentenced to five years' rigorous imprisonment.
The other four, all ranked major, were sentenced to three years, two years, and two each to one year and six months, the military said.
The army said the convicts have the right to appeal, but provided no further details.
Khan was detained days after US Navy SEALs found and killed Osama bin Laden in the military town of Abbottabad on May 2, 2011, reviving disturbing questions about ignorance or complicity within Pakistan's powerful military.
Hizb ut-Tahrir is not banned in Britain, but has been outlawed in Pakistan and lies on the fringes of Western concerns about links between the military and terror groups.
According to its website, it aims to resume the Islamic way of life by establishing an Islamic state that executes the systems of Islam and carries its call to the world.
Since bin Laden was killed, Pakistan has been under increasing pressure from the United States to crack down on militant sanctuaries in its northwestern border areas with Afghanistan and cut all ties with extremist Islamist networks.
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