Former Pakistani leader Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam are returning to Pakistan from the UK just days after both were handed lengthy jail sentences by an anti-corruption court.
The three-term prime minister, who was ousted from office last year, was sentenced in absentia last week to ten years in prison, after Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau (NAB) ruled that he and his family laundered money in the 1990s to pay for luxury apartments in Park Lane, central London.
The court, in Islamabad, also sentenced Sharif’s daughter and political heir Maryam to “seven years’ imprisonment, fined the family £10m and ordered the seizure of the Avenfield properties”, reports The Guardian.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The former PM has accused Pakistan’s powerful security establishment of conspiring in a “judicial witch-hunt” against him and his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party ahead of elections on 25 July, says the BBC.
Sharif - who has been in London with his wife while she undergoes treatment for cancer - claims the military is working behind the scenes to skew the contest in favour of former cricketer Imran Khan, now leader of the main opposition party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
Meanwhile, Khan has accused Sharif of “maligning Pakistan’s institutions to save himself”.
“Adiala jail is ready for you,” Khan said before last week’s verdict, also claiming that Sharif was using his wife’s illness to “emotionally blackmail” voters.
Supporters of Sharif’s PML-N party are expected to take to the streets today, in defiance of a ban on all public rallies, to protest against the jail sentences, reports Reuters.
“The Pakistani nation and the PML-N reject this decision,” Sharif’s brother, Shahbaz Sharif, told reporters. “This is a dark chapter in the history of this country. There was no solid legal evidence in the entire case.”
-
China is silently expanding its influence in American citiesUnder the Radar New York City and San Francisco, among others, have reportedly been targeted
-
How China uses 'dark fleets' to circumvent trade sanctionsThe Explainer The fleets are used to smuggle goods like oil and fish
-
One year after mass protests, why are Kenyans taking to the streets again?today's big question More than 60 protesters died during demonstrations in 2024
-
China looms large over India and Pakistan's latest violenceIN THE SPOTLIGHT Beijing may not have had troops on the ground, but as South Asia's two nuclear powers bared their teeth over Kashmir, China eyed an opportunity
-
Kashmir: India and Pakistan's conflict explainedThe Explainer Tensions at boiling point in the disputed region after India launched retaliatory air strikes on its neighbour
-
India strikes Pakistan as tensions mount in Kashmirspeed read Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called it an 'act of war'
-
Kashmir: on the brink of a 'catastrophic' warTalking Point Relations between India and Pakistan are 'cratering' in the aftermath of a shocking terror attack in the disputed border region
-
What happens if tensions between India and Pakistan boil over?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION As the two nuclear-armed neighbors rattle their sabers in the wake of a terrorist attack on the contested Kashmir region, experts worry that the worst might be yet to come
