Pak court orders release of Nawaz Sharif, daughter; suspends jail term

Islamabad: The jail sentence of former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif and daughter Maryam has been suspended by a Pakistan court, news agency Reuters reported.

Last week, Sharif and his daughter were temporarily released prison to attend funeral services for his wife, Kulsoom, who died of cancer in London.

Video footage from Geo TV showed Sharif walking through Islamabad’s airport amid tight security to be flown to Lahore, near the family home.

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.

Nawaz 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.

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.