Islamabad: Pakistan's accountability court on Friday sentenced former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in absentia to 10 years in prison over corruption charges, striking his Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) a blow before the July 25 national elections.
The verdict, which relates to the Sharif family's purchase of upscale London flats, threatens to end the career of the 68-year-old, three-time Prime Minister whom the country's top court had unseated last July over long-running graft allegations.
A political ally said Sharif would return to Pakistan from London to file an appeal, risking arrest on arrival, before the elections where his party faces a close contest with former cricketer Imran Khan's Tehreek-e-Insaf.
Prosecution lawyer Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi told reporters that Sharif would be arrested if he returned but could later be freed on appeal.
Sharif's daughter and political heir Maryam Safdar and her MP husband, Muhammad Safdar, have been handed seven years and one year, respectively, in the Avenfield apartments case for not cooperating with the investigations.
The verdict disqualifies Maryam from contesting elections. Sharif has also been fined £8 million.
Sharif's brother Shahbaz, PML-N president and likely Prime Ministerial candidate, condemned the "black verdict" in Lahore. Dawn News TV reported that Sharif, Maryam, Sharif's sons Hassan and Hussain, and former finance minister Ishaq Dar were at the Avenfield flats, watching the details of the verdict live.
Sharif's wife Kulsoom, being treated for cancer in London, has been in a coma since suffering a heart attack last month. Safdar is in Pakistan but was not present in court.
The court decision comes amid growing suspicion of military meddling in politics ahead of the polls, and media complaints of being muzzled. Sharif claims the military has, in cahoots with top judges, used the cases against him to tip the scales in favour of Imran ahead of the election.
Imran, who runs a socially conservative, anti-corruption platform, was a driving force behind Sharif's downfall, seizing on the 2016 Panama Papers' revelations about his family's purchases abroad using offshore companies.
"I thank God that for the first time in history a powerful (person) has been sentenced by the justice system in Pakistan," Imran said after Friday's verdict.
Sharif has had a history of conflict with the military and was ousted by Gen. Pervez Musharraf in a coup in 1999 that ended his second stint in power. During his last tenure, he challenged the military over foreign policy.
Political analysts Mazhar Abbas and Rasool Bakhsh Rais said Sharif would have to take "a clear stand" by returning home and facing arrest and more cases; else his party would suffer. Sharif, the second Prime Minister after Yousuf Raza Gilani to be unseated by the courts, was also barred from politics over the Panama Papers revelations.
The National Accountability Bureau, formed by Musharraf to try corrupt politicians, businessmen and ex-military men, had filed three corruption references against Sharif on the apex court's directives.
These relate to his London properties and the establishment of 16 companies, including Flagship Investment Ltd in Britain and Azizia Steel Mills and Hill Metal Establishment in Jeddah. His sons Hassan and Hussain are co-accused in some of the cases.
The atmosphere outside the Islamabad court was thick with tension on Friday morning, with police and the Pakistani Rangers deployed in riot gear. Media reports said gatherings of more than five people had been banned in the capital.
