6 yıl önce

Pakistan court orders release of ex-PM Sharif and his daughter from prison

Reports said the court suspended the 10-year sentence for Sharif and the seven-year term given to his daughter Maryam Nawaz over corrupt practices linked to his family's ownership of upscale London flats.

Reuters Archive

Maryam Nawaz (L) and her father, ex-Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif (R) and supporters during his party's convention in Islamabad, Pakistan, June 4, 2018.

Pakistan's high court on Wednesday ordered the release from jail of ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter, suspending the sentences they received from an accountability court in July, local media are reporting.

Reports say the court suspended the 10-year sentence for Sharif and the seven-year term given to his daughter Maryam Nawaz over corrupt practices linked to his family's ownership of upscale London flats.

Nawaz's son-in-law (retired) Captain Muhammad Safdar Awan was given one year jail time for not cooperating with the accountability bureau.

The Islamabad High Court ordered the trio be released once they each post a bond of half a million rupees, or about $4,000.

"Justice has been served and I congratulate Nawaz Sharif's supporters," former foreign minister Khawaja Asif, a staunch Sharif ally, said outside the courtroom where Sharif's supporters were seen celebrating wildly.

Speaking to TRT World, Kamran Yousaf explains.

The Sharifs' convictions are still under appeal with the same Islamabad High Court, but a judge on Wednesday ruled they should be freed immediately while the case continues.

Three-time prime minister Sharif was ousted and disqualified from holding office by the Supreme Court in July 2017 and jailed earlier this year in absentia.

He was arrested on July 13 upon returning from London, where his wife was receiving treatment before her death this month.

The former prime minister was briefly released earlier this month for his wife's funeral.

Sharif has repeatedly called the cases against him politically motivated, suggesting collusion between the powerful military and courts to destabilise his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party and throw him out of power.

"The prosecution has failed to show the properties belong to Nawaz Sharif. It also failed to prove how was Maryam Nawaz sentenced under the same charge sheet which convicted Nawaz Sharif," Justice Athar Minallah told the court.

Speaking to TRT World, Raza Rumi explains.