Nawaz Sharif sentenced to 10 years for corruption

Former Pakistan prime minister convicted over purchase of luxury properties in London

(FILES) In this file photo taken on April 17, 2018 ousted former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif looks on as he attends a seminar on 'Upholding the Sanctity of Ballot based on the Constitution, Democracy, Supremacy of Parliament and Rule of Law', in Islamabad. Pakistan's former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison by a corruption court in Islamabad on July 6, lawyers said, dealing a serious blow to his party's troubled campaign ahead of July 25 elections.
 / AFP / AAMIR QURESHI
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Pakistan's former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison by a corruption court in Islamabad on Friday, dealing a serious blow to his party's troubled campaign ahead of July 25 elections.

Mr Sharif "has been awarded 10 years imprisonment and an eight million pound [Dh39m] fine" over the purchase of high-end properties in London, defence lawyer Mohammad Aurangzeb said.

Prosecution lawyer Sardar Muzaffar Abbas said that the court had also ordered that the properties, in London's exclusive Mayfair area, be confiscated by the federal government.

Mr Sharif is currently in London, where his wife is receiving medical treatment for cancer. The verdict immediately raised questions over whether he would return to Pakistan, with analysts saying he was in a "difficult position" ahead of the election.

"If Sharif does not come back, his party is over," said political analyst Rasool Bukhsh Rais. "If he comes back, he will have to fight cases and he will be suffering a lot - but in this way he will save his party."

Mr Sharif is banned from politics for life and had handed the presidency of his ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party over to his brother, Shahbaz, who is leading the party's campaign ahead of Pakistan's second-ever democratic transition of power.

"We reject this decision," Shahbaz Sharif told a televised press conference in Lahore shortly after the verdict. "It is based on injustices. This decision will be written in black words in history."

The Sharif clan and their supporters have repeatedly denied the allegations of corruption, suggesting Nawaz is the victim of a conspiracy driven by the powerful military, which has ruled Pakistan for roughly half of its 70-year history._______________

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He was removed as prime minister by the Supreme Court last year following a corruption investigation.

Mr Sharif, who at times during his premiership appeared to seek a better relationship with Pakistan's arch-enemy India, has since repeatedly accused the military of political interference.

Journalists and activists have spoken of pressure by the military to censor positive coverage of the PML-N campaign amid allegations of a "silent coup".

The corruption controversy erupted with the publication last year of 11.5 million secret documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca documenting the offshore dealings of many of the world's rich and powerful.

Three of Mr Sharif's four children - Maryam, his presumptive political heir, and his sons Hasan and Hussein - were implicated in the papers.

On Friday the court also sentenced Maryam to seven years in prison.