ISLAMABAD, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- A man accused of making two false bomb threats over the summer was sentences to 26 years in prison by a Pakistani court.
Authorities say Rana Yousuf used his friend's sim card in July to make bomb threats at a children's park and a crowded marketplace in Punjab province during the first day of Eid al-Fitr, an Islamic festival celebrating an end to the fasting of Ramadan.
Police bomb disposal experts and other emergency workers rushed to both scenes and after hours of searching discovered the calls were a hoax, according to the BBC.
Prosecutors say Yousef was trying to set up his friend because of a business rivalry between the two. Along with the 26-year sentence, he was also fined 100,000 Pakistani rupees, or $993. The friend who owned the sim card was cleared of charges due to lack of evidence.
The sentence follows Pakistan's resumption of terror-suspect executions after a suspension that began in 2008 and ended last year. At the time, the newly-elected administration of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif let the moratorium expire in order to establish a reputation of being tough on crime and terrorism.
Despite pressure from the United Nations to avoid such punishments, the government of Sharif and President Mamnoon Hussain hanged at least six accused terrorists in the week following a Taliban attack on a Peshawar school that resulted in over 140 deaths, including 132 children, earlier this month.
