Top court orders release of 'treason' accused

Islamabad: The Supreme Court yesterday ordered the immediate release from detention of opposition leader Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, suspending his conviction and prison sentence over treason charges by a lower court three years ago.

The Supreme Court had, last year, turned down the bail application of Hashmi, a vice-president in former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) party.

Hashmi was arrested in October 2003 on various criminal charges, including attempt to incite mutiny in the army.

Concurrent jail terms

He was sentenced in April 2004 by the Islamabad district and sessions judge to concurrent jail terms totalling 23 years, the longest being seven years.

A three-member Supreme Court Bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry ordered Hashmi's release against a bond of 50,000 rupees to be deposited with the court registrar.

His conviction was suspended by the Bench pending a decision on his appeal by the Lahore High Court. Earlier this week the Supreme Court had rejected a government plea to postpone proceedings in the case for a month.

Hashmi's lawyer Akram Shaikh told the court that his client had been a victim of state repression and that he had spent about six years in prison under the military rule of General Pervez Musharraf.

He said that, before his arrest in the sedition case, Hashmi was kept in jail for two years by the anti-corruption National Accountability Bureau.

Shaikh said his client had submitted an appeal against his conviction to the Lahore High Court but it had not come up for hearing even once.

The counsel argued that, if remissions under the jail manual were calculated, his client had almost served his entire sentence.

Government attorney, Punjab Assistant Advocate General Saeed Akram, retorted that remissions were not available to a treason convict.

A large number of PML-N leaders and workers attended the hearing and celebrated the verdict by distributing sweets.

Lawyers said Hashmi would be released from Kot Lakpat Jail in Lahore today. Legal formalities could not be completed immediately after the verdict yesterday.

"The verdict is a victory for all democratic forces in Pakistan," said PML-N chairman Raja Zafarul Haq.