JURIST - Paper Chase: Pakistan AG says high court likely to overturn amnesty for ex-PM Bhutto

[JURIST] Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto [personal website; BBC profile] is likely to face 8 1/2-year old corruption charges again in the likely event that an amnesty ordinance [text] issued [JURIST report] by President Pervez Musharraf is thrown out by the country's Supreme Court, according to Pakistani Attorney General Malik Muhammad Qayyum as quoted Sunday in an interview with the London Sunday Times. Qayyum said that he had defended the amnesty after it was issued and before Bhutto returned to the country from exile, but that it was "not happily worded" and would probably be rejected in a number of legal challenges now pending [JURIST report] since only the courts can throw out charges.

Qayyum's comment came soon after Bhutto was released from house arrest [JURIST report] for trying to organize a mass march protesting President Pervez Musharraf's imposition of emergency rule earlier this month [PDF text; JURIST news archive]. The Hindustan Times has more.

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