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Nawaz Sharief sentenced to life imprisonment

Haris Darvesh in Karachi

Deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the special anti-terrorism court in Karachi in the plane hijack case. Others accused in the case have been acquitted. The court has also ordered forfeiture of his property.

Judge Rehmat Hussain Jaffery found Sharief guilty on two counts of hijacking and terrorism and sentenced him to a life term on each count.

Sharief was, however, found innocent of the charge of attempted murder and kidnapping. Both sentences are to run concurrently. Under Pakistani law, a life term lasts 25 years.

The others accused -- Mian Shahbaz Sharief (the former prime minister's brother), Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Saifur Rehman, Rana Maqbool, Saeed Mehdi and Ghous Ali Shah -- were acquitted on all counts.

Sharief's wife Kulsoom Nawaz and dozens of his supporters yelled angrily inside the court when the verdict was announced. Sharief and his co-accused denied all the charges, saying they had been concocted to cover up the military coup led by General Pervez Musharraf.

Reading out his short order, the judge ordered Sharief to pay a fine of Rs 500,000 in each of the two cases, in addition to a compensation of Rs 2 million to the passengers of Flight PK-805. In case of non-payment of the fine, Sharief will face another five years in prison, he said.

The case relates to the denial of landing facilities for the Pakistan International Airlines flight bringing General Musharraf back from a conference in Sri Lanka after he was sacked as the army chief. The plane did land and the general staged a coup d'etat, seizing power and throwing Sharief into jail. Musharraf claimed that there was only seven minutes of fuel left in the plane's tanks when it landed and accused Sharief of having put the lives of passengers at risk in a bid to get rid of him.

Raja Qureshi, chief prosecutor in the hijacking, conspiracy, attempt to murder and terrorism case against Sharief and the others, hinted at the possibility of a government appeal against the acquittal of the six others.

But Sharief's defence lawyers were equally confident that the judgement would be set aside in appeal. Talking to reporters, the defence counsels said that even during the trial, Judge Jaffery never showed an inclination to award the maximum punishment, since the charge was of an attempt to commit, not actual commission of crimes. Moreover, the fact that the ousted prime minister was cleared of the charges of attempt to murder and kidnap and that the other accused were all acquitted also made Sharief's case in the appellate court very strong.

Sharief has to file an appeal against the verdict within seven days.

On the conduct of the trial by Judge Jaffery, defence lawyer Mansoor Ahmed said the trial was fair and transparent and the judge's integrity was above board.

The media adviser to the government, Javed Jabbar said: "This has been possibly the most transparent trial in the history of the country."

Sharief's son, Hasan Sharief, said in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation that the battle had just begun to overturn the ruling against his father. "We were all hoping for an acquittal...I was disappointed to hear of the life sentence, but we are still very optimistic - the fight has just begun,"

Outside the court thousands of Paramilitary troops and police were on high alert. "We are alert and prepared to meet any eventuality," said senior police officials.

Police today rounded up seven supporters of Nawaz Sharief who had gathered outside the anti-terrorism court ahead of its verdict, witnesses said. Those whisked away in waiting police vans included a former minister and a woman activist of Sharief's Pakistan Muslim League, Tahmina Daultana, they said.

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