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| Gulam Nabi Fai (A Google Photo) |
WASHINGTON: Ghulam Nabi Fai,
a US-based Kashmiri activist who for years propagated the Pakistani
line on the issue while being on Islamabad's payroll, was sentenced to
two years in prison by a US court on Friday on charges of illegally
working for Pakistani intelligence agency ISI.
Judge Liam O'Grady of the Eastern District Court in Alexandra, Virginia, handed down a reduced sentence to the 62-year old Fai after the government prosecution sought leniency on grounds that Fai had assisted authorities with the investigation.
Fai was sentenced to 24 months of imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release against the maximum possible 5 years (for conspiracy) plus three years (for tax violation).
Fai's attorney Nina Ginsberg said he would surrender after his daughter's graduation on June 25. Judge Grady asked Fai not to maintain any contact with the officials and agents of the government of Pakistan and the ISI.
Fair, who had earlier confessed to being a paid agent of the ISI during questioning by US authorities, had pled guilty last December to conspiracy and tax violations over the concealed transfer of at least $3.5 million from the Pakistani government.
Fai was arrested in July 2011 and charged with participating in a long-term conspiracy with an associate to act as agents of the Pakistani government in the US without disclosing their affiliation with the Pakistani government as required by law.
A second accused in the case, Zaheer Ahmad, a US citizen at large in Pakistan, died in Islamabad last October. Investigations revealed that Fai's Kashmiri-American Council was being bankrolled illegally by Pakistani government entities, including ISI.
Fai's sentencing was upstaged to an extent by disclosures in court by the US government attorney that the ISI's reach had extended to the so called moderate leadership in J&K . In a 10-page submission , US attorney Neil Mac-Bride told the court that the chairman of Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umer Farooq is "supported and controlled" by Pakistan's ISI.
MacBride said Fai has submitted 53 individuals from Pakistan , India and US in his support all of whom urged O'Grady to give the Kashmiri separatist a lighter sentence. Many signatories seeking lighter sentence failed to disclose facts which might undermine their credibility before the court, he said, indicating that some of them were linked to ISI. While Navlakha is a civil rights activist in India , prominent among those who wrote a letter in support of Fai included Rajmohan Gandhi and Ved Bhasin.
Judge Liam O'Grady of the Eastern District Court in Alexandra, Virginia, handed down a reduced sentence to the 62-year old Fai after the government prosecution sought leniency on grounds that Fai had assisted authorities with the investigation.
Fai was sentenced to 24 months of imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release against the maximum possible 5 years (for conspiracy) plus three years (for tax violation).
Fai's attorney Nina Ginsberg said he would surrender after his daughter's graduation on June 25. Judge Grady asked Fai not to maintain any contact with the officials and agents of the government of Pakistan and the ISI.
Fair, who had earlier confessed to being a paid agent of the ISI during questioning by US authorities, had pled guilty last December to conspiracy and tax violations over the concealed transfer of at least $3.5 million from the Pakistani government.
Fai was arrested in July 2011 and charged with participating in a long-term conspiracy with an associate to act as agents of the Pakistani government in the US without disclosing their affiliation with the Pakistani government as required by law.
A second accused in the case, Zaheer Ahmad, a US citizen at large in Pakistan, died in Islamabad last October. Investigations revealed that Fai's Kashmiri-American Council was being bankrolled illegally by Pakistani government entities, including ISI.
Fai's sentencing was upstaged to an extent by disclosures in court by the US government attorney that the ISI's reach had extended to the so called moderate leadership in J&K . In a 10-page submission , US attorney Neil Mac-Bride told the court that the chairman of Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umer Farooq is "supported and controlled" by Pakistan's ISI.
MacBride said Fai has submitted 53 individuals from Pakistan , India and US in his support all of whom urged O'Grady to give the Kashmiri separatist a lighter sentence. Many signatories seeking lighter sentence failed to disclose facts which might undermine their credibility before the court, he said, indicating that some of them were linked to ISI. While Navlakha is a civil rights activist in India , prominent among those who wrote a letter in support of Fai included Rajmohan Gandhi and Ved Bhasin.
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