Release of senior opposition leader jailed for criticising army

Описание: (3 Aug 2007)
1. Wide of senior opposition leader, Javed Hashmi's lawyer Akram Shiekh standing in front of Supreme Court building
2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Akram Shiekh, Javed Hashmi's Lawyer:
"So the honourable supreme court has (inaudible) agreed with these submissions as there was no substantial rebuttal and have directed release, fought for release of Javed Hashmi from the prison on his furnishing a bond in the amount of rupees 50-thousand only."
3. Various of Shiekh leaving
4. Various of security outside Supreme Court Building
STORYLINE:
Pakistan's Supreme Court, on Friday, ordered the release of a senior opposition leader who was sentenced to 23 years in prison four years ago for criticising the army, a defence lawyer and officials said.
Javed Hashmi, a senior leader from former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League party, was arrested in 2003 after he circulated an unsigned letter from some soldiers against President General Pervez Musharraf.
A court convicted and sentenced him to 23 years in prison on treason charges in 2004, but the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Friday ordered that the man be freed on a bail of 50-thousand rupees (800 US dollars) his lawyer, Akram Sheikh, told reporters.
The ruling was announced by a three-member panel of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, who was recently reinstated as the country's top judge after misconduct charges brought against him by Musharraf's government were overturned by the Supreme Court.
Sheikh said the release order was the result of a petition he had filed to seek a review of Hashmi's case.
Hashmi will be free on bail while the court carries out a review of his case.
Before his arrest, Hashmi often criticised Musharraf for ousting Sharif's government in a 1999 coup.

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