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Court orders release of Pakistan's ailing Ex-President Zardari
 
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Wed, 11 Dec 2019   ||   Nigeria,
 

A Pakistani court has on Wednesday granted bail to ailing former president Asif Ali Zardari, who is facing allegations of corruption and money laundering.

Islamabad High Court granted bail to Zardari after examining his medical report.

His lawyer told the court that Zardari had cardiac problems, diabetes, and other ailments, and needed medical care.

Zardari, the widower of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto, was arrested in June by the anti-graft agency over allegations of corruption and operating fake bank accounts for the purpose of money laundering. These accounts were allegedly opened between 2013 and 2015.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the former president’s son and chairman of the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) thanked the court for “doing justice”.

He told reporters that his father was falsely implicated to pressure the opposition.

Zardari, the PPP’s co-chairman, has spent 11 years in jail in the past over allegations of corruption, but nothing could be proven in court.

Several opposition leaders including three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif were put behind bars in what the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan claims is a corruption crackdown.

The opposition said the detentions were politically motivated.

In October, a court suspended the seven-year jail term of ailing former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, weeks later he left for London in an air ambulance for treatment.

 

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