KARACHI: An anti terrorism court of Karachi has vindicated five Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leaders in a case pertaining to incendiary speech.

The MQM leaders who have been declared innocent in the case are Farooq Sattar, Khawaja Izhar ul Hassan, Rauf Siddiqui, Waseem Akhter and Qamar Mansoor. Two cases were filed against them at Sohrab Goth police station. A prosecutor opposed the acquittal, which was rejected by the court.

On Jan 11, 2020 the court had indicted MQM leaders including former convener Farooq Sattar, senior leader Aamir Khan, Waseem Akhter, Khawaja Izhar ul Hassan and Muhammed Javed, however the accused had repudiated the allegations.

It may be recalled that on August 22, 2016, cases were filed against Farooq Sattar, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and Amir Liaquat Hussain among others in various police stations in Karachi for facilitating anti-Pakistan speech and attacks on media houses after incendiary speech of MQM founder Altaf Hussain. Earlier, the court had also issued arrest warrants for several leaders.