ISLAMABAD: A Pakistan court today ordered the release of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter, suspending their jail sentences in a corruption case, according to local media reports.
Geo TV and other broadcasters said the Islamabad High Court suspended the 10-year sentence for Mr 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.
Last week, Mr Sharif and his daughter were temporarily released from prison to attend funeral services for his wife, Kulsoom, who died of cancer in London. Ousted as prime minister last year by the Supreme Court over some undeclared income, Nawaz Sharif was in London with Kulsoom this year when a separate anti-graft court handed him a 10-year jail term in absentia over the ownership of luxury flats in London in the 1990s. Maryam Sharif, his daughter and presumed political heir, was sentenced to seven years in prison on related charges. Both said they had broken no law and there was no proof the residences were purchased with money from corruption.
The father and daughter left Kulsoom's bedside to return to Pakistan to rally their followers ahead of a July 25 general election. Both were arrested on arrival and have been imprisoned since. COMMENT Mr Sharif's party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, which had been in power for five years, lost to the party of former cricket star Imran Khan.