Following a court order, Pakistani authorities released former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz from Adiala Jail, where they were serving long terms after conviction in a corruption case.
The release came hours after the High Court in capital Islamabad suspended their imprisonment until a decision of their appeals against the sentencing came.
Sharif’s son in law and husband of Maryam was also released from the jail in Rawalpindi and flown to Lahore, the eastern city and family home.
Nawaz Sharif had been sentenced to 11 years in prison, Maryam to eight years , and her husband, Muhammad Safdar to a one-year term.
During the hearing of their appeals against the National Accountability Court’s verdict, Justice Athar Minallah argued that prosecutors had failed to bring forth any evidence of Nawaz Sharif’s ownership of the Avenfield apartments in the British capital, London.
Minallah argued that the prosecutors wanted the court to keep him jailed “on mere presumption.”
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz
Photo: Maryam Nawaz Official Facebook
The important development takes place during Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ongoing visit to Saudi Arabia where he is performing Umrah and meeting Saudi King and Crown Prince.
Sharif still has a large following in Punjab and his supporter and PML(N) leaders greeted the court’s decision, which came after a series of setbacks for the party and for the former ruling family.
The PML-N leaders and activists claim that the imprisonment of the Sharifs shortly before this summer’s July 25 election was politically motivated.
The new Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan and Sharifs are bitter political foes. Khan won the nationwide election after having campaign for years against corruption among Pakistani political leaders.
The country has still a charged political climate nearly two months after the general elections in which the PML(N) lost some ground to Khan’s PTI in Punjab, the largest province with the largest number of National Assembly seats.
Sharif’s went through a family loss last week and Sharif and his daughter had returned to prison on Sunday after a five-day parole to attend the funeral of Nawaz’s wife, Kulsoom. The former first lady died in a London hospital on September 11.
Sharif was sentenced in July after being found guilty of corrupt practices related to the ownership of four luxury properties in central London.
The three-time prime minister was ousted from power a year earlier by Pakistan’s Supreme Court, after his children were linked to offshore companies in the Panama Papers leaks of 2015. Defendants have appealed against the convictions.
The National Accountability Bureau has the option to appeal to the Supreme Court against the latest court decision on freeing the Sharifs.
