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Clemency for Bhutto's jailed
husband possible

Pakistan's military government could consider releasing former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's jailed husband Asif Ali Zardari if he surrenders his assets, Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider said Monday.

Haider said Sunday's release and exile of ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharief could be a model for Zardari, jailed for corruption in the late 1990s following his wife's last stint in power.

He told the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan that Zardari's release could be considered if he repented and surrendered his assets, using Sharief's case as a precedent.

Hours after Sharief's dramatic exile, authorities seized his assets including five factories, farms and several homes around the country.

He had been sentenced to life on charges of hijacking and evasion of tax following last year's coup.

Zardari has been in prison since his wife was sacked as prime minister in November 1996 by then president Farooq Ahmed Leghari.

In 1998, while Sharif was in power, he and Bhutto were convicted for receiving kickbacks on government contracts.

They were sentenced to five years jail each and ordered to pay around $ 8 million in fines, although Bhutto has lived in exile since her conviction in absentia.

Both have filed appeals.

AFP

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