Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif returns to face "prison cell"

Pakistani leader Nawaz Sharif is sent back to Pakistan despite a 10-year prison sentence for corruption.

Sharif and his daughter Maryam both risk being arrested on their return to Lahore on Friday.

The Prime Minister was ousted from the office last year after an investigation into corruption. He was sentenced in absentia to 10 years last week.

He accused the Pakistani security services of conspiring against him before the July 25 elections.

"There was a time when we used to say a state in a state." He told supporters of his Pakistan Muslim-Nawaz (PML-N) party in London on Wednesday. 19659007] "Despite seeing the bars of the prison before my eyes, I am going to Pakistan"

Thousands of supporters should go to the airport to greet Mr. Sharif, who was convicted by a anti-corruption court last week of his family's detention of four luxury apartments in London

Lahore reportedly detained before his return.

He called for a "mass rally of the people". [19659007Sharif67hasbeenoneofthecountry'sleadingpoliticiansformostofthelast30yearsHispartyblamesthemilitaryforbeingbehindtheherconvictionclaimingthatshetakesittothePML-NforhercriticismoftheestablishmentsafeanditspolicyofimprovingrelationswithIndia

with Sharif in which he questioned the wisdom of "allowing" Pakistani militants to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai, in reference to attacks in the Indian economic capital in 2008.

L & # 39, which led Pakistan's 70-year-old post-independence history, denied having a "direct role" in elections or the political process.

Although he was disqualified from running for the next election by the Supreme Court, Sharif remains one of the most popular politicians in Pakistan, particularly in Punjab, the most populous province and the most important on the electoral plan

Sharif enters a prison cell

Analysis by Mr. Ilyas Khan of the BBC in Islamabad

At the time when Nawaz Sharif was sentenced to a term of imprisonment. Imprisonment following a military coup in 1999, he chose to accept a pardon and an exile under an agreement negotiated by Saudis. But this time, he enters a prison cell.

At the time, it was thought that being the spoiled son of a rich father, he was too soft to face the various difficulties that can happen to a Pakistani politician.

But his movements this time point out that he is ready to go through

Sharif might well be considering wider protests after the elections, which many believe the army has already sufficiently "engineered" for s & rsquo; To ensure that his party does not win.

And he may have made a huge personal sacrifice for this. Sharif has left behind his wife Kulsoom, suffering from cancer, in a London hospital, knowing that he may not be able to return to his side.

Last week, the National Liability Tribunal ordered Sharif to serve 10 years to own assets beyond his income and a year to not cooperate with NAB. The sentences must be served concurrently.

Her daughter, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, was given seven years for encouraging a crime and one year for not cooperating – again at the same time – while Safdar Awan's son-in-law was given a sentence of imprisonment. one year for not cooperating.

Sharif and Maryam also received fines of £ 8 million ($ 10.6 million) and £ 2 million respectively. Their lawyers say that they will appeal against the verdict, but the pair will have to go to the NAB before the appeal can be filed.

The case, known as the Avenfield Reference, relates to a number of properties in the British capital. 19659030] The attack on the Pakistani media before the vote

The leak of Panama Papers in 2015 revealed that several children of Sharif had links with offshore companies that would be used to channel funds and buy foreign goods at Avenfield House. Park Lane London

However, his family insists that they have legitimately acquired the four properties

As part of the ruling, the court ordered that they be confiscated for the government federal.

General Elections of Pakistan

• Will Elect Candidates for the Pakistan National Assembly of 342 Seats
• The main parties are PML-N of Nawaz Sharif, former PTI of Imran Khan and Bilawal PTP Bhutto Zardari
• It will mark the second time A civil government has ceded power to another after serving a full sentence
• The period before the vote has been ruined by what observers say is a crackdown on political activists , journalists and critics of powerful military. 371,000 troops will be deployed to protect the elections and ensure they are "free and fair", according to the army