Daily Times

Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) founder Altaf Hussain on Friday will appear before a judge at London’s Central Criminal Court for a hearing in the incitement to violence case against him.

Accompanied by his colleagues from the MQM International Secretariat, the MQM founder arrived at the Old Bailey.

The hearing will determine the dates and time of trial and is likely to confirm that bail restriction imposed on the MQM leader have been relaxed.

Hussain will appear before Justice Sweeney today via video link at the crown court famously known as Old Bailey, after a Magistrates court on October 10 passed his case here for trial.

On October 11, Hussain was formally charged by the Crown Prosecution Service under Section 1(2) of the Terrorism Act 2006 for encouraging terrorism during a speech he made in August 2016. If convicted, he could face a maximum prison sentence of 15 years along with a fine.

This is the first time the MQM supremo has been charged with any offence in the United Kingdom, where he has been living in self-imposed exile since 1991. The move comes as a blow to the party, which has maintained that Hussain is innocent and that the allegations against him are fabricated.

The MQM founder was arrested on June 11, 2019, during a dawn raid at his home and taken to a south London police station.

Scotland Yard at the time had said Hussain had been arrested on suspicion of intentionally encouraging or assisting offences contrary to Section 44 of the Serious Crime Act 2007.

The UK authorities launched the investigations into the matter after an FIR was lodged in Karachi naming the MQM leader as the instigator. Pakistan then approached the UK to investigate the case.