Around the World

Former premier gets life prison sentence

KARACHI, Pakistan - Former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif was spared the death penalty and sentenced to life in prison yesterday after being found guilty of hijacking and terrorism charges stemming from his futile attempt to prevent a military coup that ousted him from power last October.

An antiterrorism court cleared Sharif of attempted murder and kidnapping charges in connection with his efforts to prevent a commercial aircraft carrying Gen. Pervez Musharraf from landing in Pakistan on Oct. 12. Six co-defendants, including Sharif's brother, were acquitted on all counts.

The sentence was seen by some as a setback for Musharraf, who toppled Sharif's government hours after the plane landed and remains at the head of a military regime. Government prosecutors, who argued that Sharif had endangered the lives of more than 200 passengers and crew members on the Pakistan International Airlines flight by refusing landing rights, had urged the court to impose the death penalty.

Reading the verdict to a packed courtroom, Judge Rehmat Hussain Jafri said he had not sentenced Sharif to death because "the lesser punishment in this case would meet the justice."

Bribery investigation spotlights corruption

JERUSALEM - Of the many political scandals gripping Israel these days, perhaps none has been as unsettling as the bribery investigation of popular President Ezer Weizman.

Police closed the case yesterday, recommending Weizman not stand trial. But the resolution quieted neither the calls that Weizman resign nor the public angst over the tarnishing of a national leader and the system he heads.