- Nineteen prisoners use cutlery to break out of cells at Winchester prison
- France wants progress in Ukraine before Russia returns to G7
- Italy president begins talks to seek way out of government crisis
- Italian PM expected to resign as political chaos deepens
- Russia says US cruise missile test ‘regrettable’
- Kremlin - No date set for Normandy talks on Ukraine despite Macron meeting
- Egypt court hands out 6 death sentences on terror charges
- Putin says Russian nuclear explosion poses no threat
- Russian panel eyes alleged foreign interference in protests
- Gran Canaria wildfire triggers evacuation of thousands of people
- PM Johnson calls on Germany and France to compromise on Brexit
- Sudan's ex-president Bashir arrives at corruption trial
TEHRAN, November 3 - Pakistan’s former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has returned from overseas and appeared at a court in the capital, Islamabad, to face allegations of corruption.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) -The former leader, who had been facing an arrest warrant since early last month, arrived in the Islamabad court along with his daughter, Maryam, and his son-in-law on Friday. His daughter is also on trial over similar charges.
Sharif’s lawyer, Khawaja Haris, said during a brief hearing that the former prime minister had paid two surety bonds of five million rupees (48,000 dollars) each. The court is set to reconvene on November 7.
Sahrif left the court under tight security, without speaking to the media. But his son-in-law, Muhammad Safdar, said outside the court that, “Till the time the courts are... free from the fear of some other people, I can’t expect any fair trial from this court.”
Sharif, 67, who still maintains control of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Party, resigned as prime minister in July after Pakistan’s Supreme Court disqualified him for failing to disclose his income.
The court also ordered a criminal investigation into his family’s finances. The Sharifs, however, deny any wrongdoing and say the charges are part of a “political conspiracy.”
Sharif himself left the country for London in early October to join his wife, who is receiving treatment for cancer. While staying there, he summoned top officials from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz for a summit on the leadership of the party.
Before leaving London to return to Islamabad on Thursday, Sharif told media that he was “going to Pakistan despite [my wife’s] chemotherapy to appear in a bogus case.”
“Pakistan’s system has contradictions... all this must be changed, now is the time to change it,” he added.
According to reports by Pakistani media, the ruling party plans to keep Sharif a central figure during campaigning for general elections due sometime next year. The Supreme Court, however, has banned him from holding office.
Source:Press TV
Your Comment