April 26, 2012
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday convicted Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani of contempt but awarded him a symbolic detention "until the rising of the court" for defying its orders to write to the Swiss for the reopening of a graft case against his party co-chairman and President Asif Ali Zardari.
April 26, 2012
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday convicted Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani of contempt but awarded him a symbolic detention "until the rising of the court" for defying its orders to write to the Swiss for the reopening of a graft case against his party co-chairman and President Asif Ali Zardari.
Gilani’s conviction opens the way for proceedings to disqualify him as the prime minister.
Gilani's conviction opens the way for proceedings to disqualify him as the prime minister. But the process could drag on for months and would not bring down the government that completes its term in March next year. Gilani's lawyer, Aitzaz Ahsan, claimed the conviction does not automatically disqualify the PM from office and said he would appeal the verdict. The move would further delay Gilani's disqualification.
The court was widely expected to award Gilani the maximum six-month imprisonment, but it said Gilani's likely disqualification was "taken as a mitigating factor in sentencing''.
"…the prime minister is found guilty of contempt for willfully flouting the direction of the Supreme Court," said justice Nasir-ul-Mulk, who headed a seven-member bench that heard the case. He said the PM's offence tended to ridicule the country's judiciary and ordered his confinement until the conclusion of the court proceedings that lasted for a few minutes.
Courtesy: Bloomberg
