Pakistani Judge Frees Political Prisoners

With Musharraf ruling imminent, government clamps down
By Jonas Oransky,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 27, 2007 2:19 PM CDT
Pakistani Judge Frees Political Prisoners
In this picture released by Pakistan Press Information Department, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, left, presents a copy of the three years performance report of his government to President Gen. Pervez Musharraf during a meeting in Rawalpindi, Pakistan on Monday, Sept. 24, 2007. Police intensified a crackdown...   (Associated Press)

The chief justice of Pakistan’s Supreme Court today told the government to release more than 100 opposition workers and politicians, the New York Times reports. The arrests were aimed to prevent protests as the court deliberates President Pervez Musharraf's right to run for re-election—a candidacy Musharraf made official by filing nomination papers for the Oct. 6 ballot. 

Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry also ordered the government to end a blockade of the Supreme Court buildings that had kept lawyers and opposition figures away. “What is the problem that you are blocking all the roads? Elections are a matter of happiness, but here you have created panic," said Chaudry, whose court is expected to rule tomorrow on Musharraf's status. (More Pakistan stories.)

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