Pakistan: Nawaz Sharif was arrested on his return

Nawaz Sharif was Prime Minister of Pakistan three times. A year ago, allegations of corruption had declined. In connection with the Panama Papers, he was notably accused of tax evasion and money laundering. He was sentenced to ten years in prison last week.

At the time of the judgment, Sharif was in London, where his wife is receiving medical treatment. After returning from London to the East Pakistani metropolis of Lahore on Friday, he was arrested at the airport and sent via Islamabad to a high security prison in the garrison town of Rawalpindi. Tens of thousands of Sharif supporters demonstrated against the sentence in several major Pakistani cities. In Lahore alone, according to the media, 19,000 policemen were deployed to control the demonstrations.

Sharif belongs to the ruling party, the PML-N. His supporters see the trial as a "political conspiracy", behind which they suspect the army that Sharif has defeated. They believe that Sharif's trial and his public arrest are an attempt to influence the parliamentary elections that will take place on July 25th.

Sharif had announced from London that he would return to Pakistan and appeal against the verdict. His party colleague, Mohammad Mehdi, said Sharif appreciated the "will to fight" of his followers. He counts with a "wave of sympathy". In the company of the former Prime Minister, his daughter Maryam traveling with him was also arrested. She had been sentenced to seven years in prison for "promoting a crime".