CONVICTED : Supreme Court has found Prime Minister Gilani guilty of contempt of court

A seven-member special Supreme Court bench on Thursday announced a guilty verdict against Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani in a contempt of court case for his failure to write a letter to Swiss authorities to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari. However, the court did not give him a jail term and instead gave him a symbolic punishment of sentence for 30 seconds. Gilani's conviction may lead to his disqualification.
---- Gives him symbolic sentence of 30-second detention
---- Nawaz demands his resignation
---- Some lawyers argue SC ruling has automatically disqualified him from holding the post of Prime Minister
---- Protesters slam verdict
Prime Minister Gilani appeared before the bench led by Justice Nasir-Ul Mulk in person and heard the reserved judgement. At the outset of proceedings, Justice Nasir-Ul Mulk and other six judges Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany, Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry, Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Muhammad Ather Saeed signed two short judgements relating to the case.
Subsequently, Justice Nasir-Ul Mulk asked Aitzaz Ahsan, the counsel for Premier Gilani: "Ask the respondent [the PM] to come to the rostrum". As soon as the Premier got to the rostrum, the bench began to announce the judgement. Justice Mulk declared that the reasons would be recorded later, saying: "The accused Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani Prime Minister of Pakistan/Chief Executive of the federation is found guilty of and convicted for contempt of court under Article 204 (2) of the Constitution of Pakistan".
He referred to Article 204 (2) of the Constitution to be read with Section 3 of the Contempt of Court Ordinance (V of 2003) for wilful flouting, disregard and disobedience of the apex court directions relating to NRO verdict' paragraph 173.
According to paragraph 173 of the NRO judgement, the SC had directed the federal government and other concerned authorities to take immediate steps to seek revival of claims and status to the allegedly laundered money lying in foreign countries, including Switzerland.
"After our satisfaction that the contempt committed by him [the PM] is substantially detrimental to the administration of justice and tends to bring the apex court and the judiciary of Pakistan into ridicule," Justice Mulk maintained while reading the order.
Justice Mulk added that as regards the sentence to be passed against the convict the bench notes that the findings and the conviction for contempt of court recorded are likely to entail some serious consequences in terms of Article 63 (1) (g) of the Constitution which he said may be treated as mitigating factors towards the sentence to be passed against the PM.
Article 63 provides the modes of disqualification for membership of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament), and Sub Article (g) states that "he is propagating any opinion, or acting in any manner, prejudicial to the ideology of Pakistan, or the sovereignty, integrity or security of Pakistan, or morality, or the maintenance of public order, or the integrity or independence of the judiciary of Pakistan, or which defames or brings into ridicule the judiciary or the Armed Forces of Pakistan".
"He [the PM] is, therefore, punished under Section 5 of the Contempt of Court ordinance (V of 2003) with imprisonment till the rising of the Court today [Thursday]", Justice Nasur-Ul Mulk concluded and the court brought case's proceedings to an end. Meanwhile, the bench also issued another order saying, "the short order passed in the matter of contempt of court was read out in the open court. After that, the respondent/convict (PM) remained in the custody of the court till his release upon rising of the Court for the day".
NRO was declared null and void by the SC on December 16, 2009 with a direction to federal government to take action against the Ordinance's beneficiaries as well as revive cases of alleged money laundering against President Asif Ali Zardari in Switzerland. Upon non-compliance of the court directions in the matter, contempt of court proceedings against Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani were initiated on February 13.
dpa adds: The seven-member bench convicted Gilani for wilfully showing disrespect to court decisions and ordered him to stay in the courtroom until the judges left, as punishment. The judges stayed for just 30 seconds - which was the length of his detention. But under the constitution, he can no longer hold public office.
The prime minister could have faced a maximum six-month prison term. The court handed down a token punishment, but Gilani may now lose his post as a criminal conviction is a bar to holding office. Gilani smiled when the court announced the punishment, according to media reports. Private broadcaster Geo TV quoted Gilani as saying after the verdict that the judgement was not proper, and that his legal aides would decide about appealing.
Later Thursday, he attended a special meeting of the cabinet and said the government will stand by the constitution. He was greeted at the cabinet meeting "by the thumping of desks by his colleagues," read a statement from his office. Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira ruled out the possibility of the prime minister resigning, saying there was no "moral" reason for him to step down since the charges had been "politically motivated."