Sentence suspension for Pakistan ex-PM Sharif
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter and son-in-law were released from prison after a court suspended their sentences and granted them bail pending their appeals hearings.
The Islamabad High Court made the decision after the Sharifs petitioned to appeal their sentences, which were handed down by an anti-graft tribunal earlier this year in a corruption case against them.
The three were released from a prison in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
The development is the latest twist in a series of scandals involving the former prime minister, beginning with his ouster from office last year, to several corruption cases and trials he still faces.
When the anti-graft tribunal first convicted and sentenced Sharif on July 6, he was in London with his daughter, visiting his critically ill wife. The father and daughter returned home a week later and were taken to prison to serve their sentences.
Sharif ’s party, the Pakistan Muslim League, meanwhile, lost in parliamentary elections later in July and has now taken on the mantle of opposition party to new Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government.
In Wednesday’s decision, the twojudge panel headed by Justice Athar Minallah ordered that Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and sonin-law Mohammad Safdar be released once they each post a bond of half a million rupees, or about US$4,000 (RM16,550).
In the evening, the three were released from the prison, where many party leaders and a large crowd of supporters gathered to receive them, said Sen Mushahidullah Khan, a close aide to Sharif.