Pakistan’s PM found guilty of contempt of court

Pakistan’s top judges found Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani guilty of contempt of court on Thursday, making him the country’s first premier to be convicted whilst in office.

The Supreme Court said Gilani was guilty because he failed to reopen corruption cases against the president.

But it ruled he should serve only a symbolic sentence of a few minutes inside the courtroom.

Gilani had faced six months in jail and the prospect of losing his job.

President Asif Ali Zardari has been repeatedly accused of corruption and money-laundering in the 1990s.

He describes the allegations as false and politically motivated.

Pakistan’s former military rulers passed an amnesty law in 2007 to throw out thousands of corruption cases.

But the Supreme Court ruled that agreement illegal two years later and ordered that Zardari be investigated.

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