ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani court on Monday sentenced former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to seven years in prison for corrupt practices linked to the setting up of a steel mill, in a verdict that threatens to end the career of one of Pakistan’s most high-profile politicians of the last four decades.
The accountability court acquitted the three-time prime minister in a second corruption case involving an investment company.
“I’ve never committed corruption so my conscience is clear,” local media quoted Sharif as telling reporters present in the courtroom after the verdict was announced.
Hundreds of Sharif supporters gathered outside the accountability court as a judge ruled on two separate cases that investigated the source of funds to set up two companies, Al-Azizia and Hill Metal Establishment in Saudi Arabia and Flagship Investment in the United Kingdom.
Both companies were established in 2001 when Sharif lived in exile in Saudi Arabia after his government was ousted in a military coup in 1999. Investigations were hinged on the question of how the Sharif family was able to arrange the funds to set up the firms at a time when they were exiled and had no money or assets.
Sharif was taken into custody immediately after the judge read out the sentence and will be incarcerated at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail. His lawyers are expected to appeal the Al-Azizia verdict at the Islamabad High Court, while the National Accountability Bureau may move the court against Sharif’s acquittal in the Flagship Investment case.
“We have always respected past verdicts and we will respect this one too,” Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, a senior leader of Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, said. “But neither history nor the nation will accept this verdict.”
“These verdicts will God willing be done away with; what will be left behind is Nawaz Sharif’s honesty,” Sharif’s daughter and political heir Maryam Nawaz Sharif tweeted minutes after the sentence was announced. “Remember, when injustice passes a certain limit, it is eliminated.”
Monday’s judgment ends a two-and-a-half-year-long saga of corruption cases involving accusations the Sharif family hid offshore accounts and engaged in money laundering and tax evasion. The cases stemmed from the 2016 Panama Papers’ leaks that first revealed the family had bought luxurious London apartments through offshore companies.
Sharif and his family have repeatedly called the corruption proceedings politically motivated and hinted at collusion between Pakistan’s all-powerful military and the courts to keep the ex-premier and his PMLN party out of politics. On the other hand, Sharif’s opponents have championed the court cases as a rare example of Pakistan’s power elite finally being held to account. The military denies any wrongdoing.
Sharif has served as prime minister thrice but been unable to complete his term all three times. He was removed by a presidential order in 1993 and in a military coup in 1999 after which he went into exile until 2007.
Sharif was elected as prime minister for the third time in a landmark general election in 2013 but his rule was cut short after the Supreme Court disqualified him from office in July 2017 for trying to conceal assets. The court also ordered the opening of three criminal investigations into the Sharif family.
In July 2018, less than two weeks before general elections, Sharif was sentenced to ten years in jail and subsequently arrested in a first case linked to the money trail for the purchase of upscale Avenfield London flats. His daughter Maryam was also jailed for seven years on corruption charges relating to the family’s acquisition of the flats.
Both father and daughter were released on bail after their sentences were suspended by the Islamabad High Court in September, almost two months after Sharif’s party lost elections to the party of new Prime Minister Imran Khan.
On Monday, the accountability court ruled on the last two cases, sending Sharif to jail for seven years.
On December 21, Sharif’s party had announced that an advisory council would run the party’s affairs if he were arrested but it is widely speculated that his daughter will be the real boss.
“The verdict definitely marks the end of hands-on control of the PMLN by Nawaz Sharif and any possibility of him holding office in Pakistan again,” political talk show host Mohammad Malick said.
Sharif’s brother Shehbaz Sharif, the leader of the opposition, is also currently facing cases involving alleged corruption in a low-cost housing scheme and other government projects. Sharif’s daughter Maryam is out on bail in the London apartments’ case but the National Accountability Court has filed an appeal against the suspension of the case. The court is yet to rule on that appeal.
“If Shehbaz [Sharif] is cleared of all cases, then he will take over the [PMLN] party; otherwise all eyes are on Maryam,” Malick said. “But if all three figures are convicted, then that is the end of the PMLN for all practical purposes, at least in its present shape and form.”
Nawaz Sharif, toppled prime minister and political survivor, gets 7 years jail
Nawaz Sharif, toppled prime minister and political survivor, gets 7 years jail
- Sentenced to prison in steel mill case, acquitted in investment company reference
- Verdict threatens end of career of one of Pakistan’s most high-profile politicians
Key UN committee adopts resolution paving the way for a first-ever treaty on crimes against humanity
Key UN committee adopts resolution paving the way for a first-ever treaty on crimes against humanity
- The International Criminal Court was established to punish major perpetrators of war crimes
- ICC has 124 countries that are parties to it
The resolution was approved by consensus by the assembly’s legal committee, which includes all 193-member UN nations, after tense last-minute negotiations between its supporters and Russia that dragged through the day.
There was loud applause when the chairman of the committee gaveled the resolution’s approval. It is virtually certain to be adopted when the General Assembly puts it to a final vote on Dec. 4.
“Today’s agreement to start up negotiations on a much-needed international treaty is a historic achievement that was a long time coming,” Richard Dicker, Human Rights Watch’s senior legal adviser for advocacy, told The Associated Press.
“It sends a crucial message that impunity for the kinds of crimes inflicted on civilians in Ethiopia, Sudan, Ukraine, southern Israel, Gaza and Myanmar will not go unheeded,” he said.
The resolution calls for a time-bound process with preparatory sessions in 2026 and 2027, and three-week negotiating sessions in 2028 and 2029 to finalize a treaty on crimes against humanity.
Dicker said Russia’s proposed amendments left in question whether treaty negotiations would have been completed.
Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Maria Zabolotskaya said Russia withdrew the amendments “in a spirit of compromise.” But she said Russia “dissociates itself from consensus.”
“This, of course, does not mean that we are not ready to work on this crucial convention,” Zabolotskaya told the committee.
The International Criminal Court was established to punish major perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide and it has 124 countries that are parties to it. The ICC says crimes against humanity are committed as part of a large-scale attack on civilians and it lists 15 forms including murder, rape, imprisonment, enforced disappearances, sexual slavery, torture and deportation.
But the ICC does not have jurisdiction over nearly 70 other countries.
There are global treaties that cover war crimes, genocide and torture — but there has been no specific treaty addressing crimes against humanity. And according to sponsors of the resolution, led by Mexico and Gambia and backed by 96 other countries, a new treaty will fill the gap.
Kelly Adams, legal adviser at the Global Justice Center, also called the resolution “a historic breakthrough” after many delays.
Pointing to “the proliferation of crimes against humanity around the world,” she expressed hope that a treaty will be “strong, progressive and survivor-centric.”
Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnes Callamard expressed disappointment that the timeline had been extended until 2029, but said, “What’s important is that this process will deliver a viable convention.”
“It is long overdue and all the more welcome at a time when too many states are intent on wrecking international law and universal standards,” she said. “It is a clear sign that states are ready to reinforce the international justice framework and clamp down on safe havens from investigation and prosecution for perpetrators of these heinous crimes.”
After the resolution’s adoption, Gambia’s Counselor Amadou Jaiteh, who had introduced it hours earlier, called its approval “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a difference,” to hope for a world without crimes against humanity, “and a world where voices of victims are heard louder than their perpetrators.”
Philippine VP made ‘active threat’ on Marcos’ life: palace
- The statement followed an expletive-laced press conference in which Duterte alleged she was the subject of an assassination plot
The statement followed an expletive-laced press conference in which Duterte alleged she was the subject of an assassination plot and said she ordered a member of her security team to kill the president should it succeed.
The Duterte and Marcos families have seen their alliance unravel in spectacular fashion in recent months, trading accusations of drug addiction and increasingly extreme rhetoric ahead of next year’s mid-term elections and presidential polls in 2028.
“I already talked to a person in my security. I told him if I get killed, kill BBM (Ferdinand Marcos), (first lady) Liza Araneta and (the president’s cousin) Martin Romualdez. No joke,” Duterte said at a press conference that began after midnight.
“I said, if I die, don’t stop until you have killed them.”
Hours later, the palace communications office said it had referred “this active threat to the Presidential Security Command for immediate proper action.”
“Any threat to the life of the President must always be taken seriously, more so that this threat has been publicly revealed in clear and certain terms,” it said in a statement.
Duterte is facing the threat of impeachment in the House of Representatives, led by Marcos’s cousin Romualdez, who is widely expected to run for president in 2028.
She has also had a messy falling out with the president’s wife Liza Araneta-Marcos, who has accused her of laughing at a January event where her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, accused Marcos of being a “drug addict.”
Duterte called her late-night press conference after House officials said they would transfer her chief of staff — detained after being cited for contempt — from the lower chamber’s detention center to a correctional facility.
Zuleika Lopez was detained on Wednesday after being accused of “undue interference” in House proceedings focused on Duterte’s spending of public funds.
Duterte stepped down from the cabinet post of education secretary in June as relations between the two families reached a breaking point.
Months earlier, her father had accused Marcos of being a “drug addict,” with the president the next day claiming his predecessor’s health was failing due to long-term use of the powerful opioid fentanyl.
Neither provided evidence of their allegations.
In October, Duterte said she felt “used” after teaming with Marcos for the May 2022 election, which they won by a landslide.
Duterte remains the constitutional successor to the 67-year-old president.
US restricts food, metal imports on Uyghur forced labor concerns
- Goods wholly or partially made by the sanctioned firms will be restricted from entering the US, says the Department of Homeland Security
- China is accused of incarcerating over 1 million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, although officials strongly deny this
WASHINGTON: The United States said Friday that it is barring imports from dozens more China-based companies — ranging from businesses in the metals to food industries — citing worries over forced labor.
Officials are adding around 30 entities to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act entity list, meaning that goods wholly or partially made by these firms will be restricted from entering the United States.
The new additions bring the total number on the list to 107, said the Department of Homeland Security.
The reason is that the companies were found to either source materials from China’s northwestern Xinjiang region or work with its local government “to recruit, transfer, and receive workers, including Uyghurs, out of Xinjiang,” said the US Trade Representative’s office.
Beijing has been accused of incarcerating over one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in a network of detention facilities in Xinjiang, although officials strongly deny this.
The newly-targeted companies make goods ranging from agricultural to aluminum products, along with polysilicon materials.
They also mine and process metals like copper, gold and nickel, the USTR statement added.
Among them are companies tied to Chinese electric vehicle battery manufacturer CATL and China-linked Gotion too, a bipartisan US congressional committee noted on Friday.
Earlier this year, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and others flagged CATL and Gotion’s ties to two businesses, Xinjiang Nonferrous and Xinjiang Joinworld.
Both were included in the latest update.
The committee’s chairman John Moolenaar and other lawmakers released a statement saying: “While we are pleased with this initial step, we remain concerned that CATL and Gotion’s supply chains are deeply tied to the Xinjiang region.”
The rule comes into effect on November 25.
“Companies should not secure unfair advantages by exploiting workers,” said US Trade Representative Katherine Tai.
“We will enforce our laws to address forced labor and prevent companies that violate workers’ rights from benefiting from the US market,” she added in a statement.
The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act was signed into law in 2021.
Trump plans to assemble investigative teams to look into 2020 election, Washington Post reports
WASHINGTON: US President-elect Donald Trump plans to assemble investigative teams at the Department of Justice to search for evidence in battleground states that fraud tainted the 2020 election, the Washington Post reported on Friday, citing a source.
Trump, who won the 2024 election but lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden, has falsely claimed that he lost the 2020 election due to extensive voter fraud, a view shared by millions of his supporters.
Trump was indicted last year on federal charges for his attempts to overturn the election. The charges stemmed from an investigation by Special Counsel Jack Smith.
The Washington Post, citing two people close to Trump’s transition team, reported that Trump plans to fire the entire team that worked with Smith.
Dutch court weighs a lawsuit against arms sales to Israel
- Opening the case at the court in The Hague, Judge Sonja Hoekstra noted: “It is important to underline that the Dutch State does not contest the gravity of the situation in Gaza, nor is the status of the West Bank”
THE HAGUE: Pro-Palestinian groups took the Dutch state to court on Friday, urging a halt to arms exports to Israel and accusing the government of failing to prevent what they termed a genocide in Gaza.
The NGOs argued that Israel is breaking international law in Gaza and the West Bank, invoking, among others, the 1948 UN Genocide Convention.
“Israel is guilty of genocide and apartheid” and “is using Dutch weapons to wage war,” said Wout Albers, a lawyer representing the NGOs.
“Dutch weapons are killing children every day in Palestine, including my family,” said Ahmed Abofoul, a legal adviser to Al-Haq, one of the groups involved in the suit. Israel furiously denies accusations of genocide as it presses on with the offensive in Gaza.
Opening the case at the court in The Hague, Judge Sonja Hoekstra noted: “It is important to underline that the Dutch State does not contest the gravity of the situation in Gaza, nor is the status of the West Bank.”
“Today is about finding out what is legally in play and what can be expected of the state if the state can be expected to do more or act differently than it is currently acting,” she added.
She acknowledged this was a “sensitive case,” saying: “It’s a whole legal debate.”
The lawyer for the Dutch State, Reimer Veldhuis, said the Netherlands has been applying European laws in force for arms exports.
Veldhuis argued the case should be tossed out.
“It is unlikely that the minister responsible will grant an arms export license to Israel that would contribute to the Israeli army’s activities in Gaza or the West Bank,” said Veldhuis.
The case comes one day after another court based in The Hague, the International Criminal Court, issued arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and former defense minister.
