Pakistan’s high court has ordered the release from jail of the country's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter and son-in-law suspending jail sentences given to them in a corruption case.
A two-judge Bench of the Islamabad High Court gave the order on Wednesday after hearing the petitions filed by Sharif, his daughter Maryam and son-in-law Capt (retd) Muhammad Safdar challenging their conviction, report NDTV, Reuters quoting Geo TV and other broadcasters.
Justice Athar Minallah read the judgment and suspended the sentences handed to them by accountability court judge Mohammad Bashir on July 6.
Sharif, Maryam and Safdar were also directed to submit bail bonds worth Rs 0.5 million each.
Last week, Sharif and his daughter were temporarily released from prison to attend funeral services for his wife, Kulsoom, who died of cancer in London.
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.
Maryam Nawaz, 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.
Mr 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.
