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Pakistan court releases ex-PM Nawaz Sharif and daughter

Nawaz Sharif, his daughter, and son-in-law freed by High Court after anti-corruption court convictions in July.

by Asad Hashim

16 hours ago

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Supporters of Nawaz Sharif celebrate following the court's decision in Islamabad on Wednesday [Faisal Mahmood/Reuters]

Islamabad, Pakistan - Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and two family members were released from prison on Wednesday after being found guilty of corruption earlier this year.

Sharif, his daughter Maryam, and son-in-law Muhammad Safdar were convicted in July by an anti-corruption court of not being able to prove the source of assets used to buy a set of upmarket London flats.

After his release, Sharif flew to his family home in Lahore and was greeted by jubilant supporters at the airport. 

Earlier on Wednesday, Islamabad High Court judge Athar Minallah ruled the National Accountability Bureau, Pakistan's anti-corruption watchdog, was unable to prove a financial link between the former prime minister and the apartments in question.

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A two-member bench, led by Minallah, suspended the jail sentences while hearing the Sharifs' appeal against their convictions.

Their convictions will stand, although their sentences have been suspended.

Sharif had been sentenced to 10 years in jail and a $10.5m fine, his daughter Maryam to a seven-year jail sentence, and a $2.6m fine, and Maryam's husband Safdar to a year in prison.

Sharif remains barred from running for public office for life after the Supreme Court in April ruled he had lied on a parliamentary wealth declaration and the disqualification from that crime would last for an indefinite period.

CR7 LEFT ANGRY AFTER REFEREES RED

📰CR7⭐ Left ‘Angry’ by Red Card 🔈: Bonucci*

Cristiano Ronaldo was "angry" after being sent off according to Leonardo Bonucci, while Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri thinks VAR would have avoided the red card.

Ronaldo saw his Juventus Champions League debut cut short to just under a half hour after an incident with Valencia centre-back Jeison Murillo.

Murillo and Ronaldo appeared to tangle off the ball, just outside the Valencia area, with the defender going down. Ronaldo then made contact with Murillo’s head, with the forward potentially tugging at the defender’s hair.

As a result, Ronaldo was given a straight red card, which sent him to the turf in shock at first and was followed with the Juventus man being visibly distraught as he left the field.

After the match, Bonucci disagreed with the referee’s decision, and confirmed Ronaldo’s dismay over the situation, though the defender praised his team for their resiliency.

“As far as I could see, it was a pretty normal clash,” Bonucci told Sky Italia. “Murillo put his hands on Ronaldo first, he reacted, but these things can happen and we must be stronger than everyone and everything.

“Ronaldo was angry, of course. The referee saw what he saw – not very well – and we overcame the obstacles."

16 dies in warehouse fire

At least 16 migrant workers died in a fire that broke out at a Moscow warehouse on Saturday morning, Russian authorities said.

“When the fire was being put out, a room that had been cut off by the flames was discovered,” TASS news agency quoted the regional branch of the emergency ministry’s press service as saying.

“Firefighters tore down the wall and found 16 dead.”

Emergency workers arrived at the scene at 0500 GMT to put out a blaze that had engulfed 200 square metres of a warehouse in an industrial zone in the Russian capital’s north.

The fire at the four-floor facility, which is thought to belong to a local printing company, was extinguished at around 0700 GMT, authorities said.

The head of the Moscow branch of the emergency ministry, Ilya Denisov, told Russian news agencies that the victims of the fire were migrant workers from Kyrgyzstan.

An AFP journalist at the scene saw about three dozen migrant workers gathered outside the warehouse, some of whom wept as they awaited news on the people who had been in the building when the blaze broke out.

Denisov said the fire was thought to have been caused by a broken lamp in a room containing large quantities of flammable liquids and paper products.

“The fire spread from the first floor through the elevator shaft to the room in which the people were killed,” Interfax news agency quoted Denisov as saying.

Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote on Twitter that the people injured in the blaze had been taken to a local hospital and that the city would probe the incident.

“I am certain that those guilty will be found and punished,” Sobyanin wrote.

The Moscow branch of Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement that it was still probing the circumstances surrounding the incident.

A criminal investigation was launched to determine whether the blaze erupted due to arson or negligence.