Convicted For Illegally Working For ISI To Push Its Kashmir Agenda
Washington: Kashmiri separatist Ghulam Nabi Fai was on Friday sentenced to two years in jail by a US court on charges of illegally working for Pakistani spy agency ISI to influence American policy on Kashmir. Fai, 62, was sentenced to 24 months of imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release by a court in Alexandria, Virginia, a suburb of Washington.
Judge Liam O’Grady also asked Fai not to maintain any contact with the officials and agents of the government of Pakistan and the ISI. Fai was arrested by the FBI on July 19 last year and had subsequently pleaded guilty before the court to the charges of being a paid agent of the ISI.
Fai, who was represented by Nina Ginsberg in the court, said he would self surrender after graduation of his daughter on June 25.
Fai had earlier also pleaded guilty to conspiracy and tax violations in connection with a decades-long scheme to conceal the transfer of at least $3.5 million from ISI to fund his lobbying efforts in America related to Kashmir.
Earlier, in its latest submission before the court of district judge Liam O’Grady, the US attorney, Neil H Mac-Bride, had said he Fai’s Sentencing Guidelines which ranges 27-33 months fails to reflect the seriousness of the conduct of conviction, because virtually all of it is based solely on the loss to the Internal Revenue Service that resulted from a tax scam that was only ancillary to Fai’s main offence. “In consideration of all of Fai’s criminal conduct, this court should impose a sentence of 48 months,” MacBride said in his latest submission in which he reiterated his charge of Fai being a liar and his continued suppression of the fact that he was a paid agent of the ISI.
In his March 28 submission, the US attorney opposed Fai’s argument that the seriousness of his offences is substantially mitigated by his demonstrated remorse”. PTI
‘Fai lied about his doctorate degree’
Kashmiri separatist Ghulam Nabi Fai, who was arrested last year on charges of being a paid agent of the ISI, has lied to the court on his doctorate degree, which he does not possess, a US attorney has said. “Fai has no doctorate degree,” US attorney Neil MacBride informed the court on Wednesday in a foot note, of the 10-page submission to the US district court in Alexandria, Virginia. Fai’s false representation that he possesses such a degree unfairly dilutes the respect rightly earned by others that actually possess such a degree, MacBride said. “Fai’s misleading characterisation of his educational attainments is consistent with his attempts to mislead the government of US for decades,” he said. PTI
Mirwaiz Farooq controlled by ISI, says US attorney
Separatist Kashmiri leader and chairman of the moderate Hurriyat Conference Mirwaiz Umer Farooq is “supported and controlled” by ISI, a US Attorney has claimed before a court. The attorney Neil H MacBride made the claim before the US district court in Alexandria, Virginia, ahead of the scheduled sentencing of Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai who had set up an organization Kashmiri American Council in the US to promote the separatist cause. Fai, who was arrested last year on charges of being a paid agent of ISI, has submitted the names of 53 individuals from Pakistan, India and the US in his support and all of them have urged the district judge Liam O’Grady to give the separatist a lighter sentence. PTI
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