State Department HQ in Washington D.C. Photo: AgnosticPreachersKid/Wikimedia Commons
The United States said Friday it is “deeply concerned” that Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) leader Hafiz Saeed has been released from house arrest in Pakistan.
“LeT is a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization responsible for the death of hundreds of innocent civilians in terrorist attacks, including a number of American citizens,” State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said.
Saeed has been alleged to be mastermind of 2008 Mumbai attacks. He had been under house arrest but was released Friday after a panel of judges declined a government request to extend his house arrest. Saeed has been detained and put under house arrest several times since 2008. After his release on Friday, Saeed said he was pleased that no allegation against him was proved.
In Washington, the State Department spokesperson said the Pakistani government “should make sure that he is arrested and charged for his crimes,”
The U.S. statement notes that in May 2008, the United States Department of the Treasury designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global
Terrorist under Executive Order 13224. Saeed was also individually designated by the United Nations under UNSCR 1267 in December 2008 following the November 2008 Mumbai attack in which 166 people, including six American citizens, were killed, it said.
The LeT and several of its front organizations, leaders, and operatives remain under both State Department and Treasury Department sanctions, the state department said.
Since 2012, the United States has offered a U.S. $10 million reward for information that brings Saeed to justice, the statement says.
