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A Pakistani accountability court has awarded a three-year prison sentence to self-exiled former prime minister Benazir Bhutto for her failure to appear before a court in connection with a corruption case.
Judge Mohammad Masoor Ali Khan gave sentence in absentia to Benazir and nine senior executives of a Swiss company to which she had allegedly granted a government contract after accepting a commission, Pakistani daily The Nation reported on Wednesday.
The same court had earlier declared her a proclaimed offender and declined permission to her lawyer to represent her case in her absence. The court order follows a stubborn stand taken by Pakistan People's Party headed by Benazir and other mainstream political parties to boycott a meeting called by President Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday to discuss the present military stand-off with India.
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