Pakistan PM charged with contempt

Pakistan’s Supreme Court has charged the prime minister with contempt for defying its orders to reopen a corruption case against his political ally, president Asif Ali Zardari.

The development today escalates a political crisis that has gripped the nuclear-armed nation

If found guilty, prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani could be imprisoned and lose his job.

The court will now hear the case. A verdict could take several weeks or months.

Mr Gilani has refused to order the corruption probe into Mr Zardari, saying the president has immunity from prosecution while in office.

Mr Gilani drove to the court himself, accompanied by his lawyer, amid tight security.

Helicopters buzzed over a rainy and overcast Islamabad, and hundreds of police blocked roads leading to the court building in the capital.

Mr Gilani said he understood the charges after they were read out and pledged to contest them. The next session will be on February 22.

The case against Mr Zardari relates to kickbacks he and his late wife, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, allegedly received from Swiss companies when Ms Bhutto was in power in the 1990s. They were found guilty in absentia in a Swiss court in 2003.

Mr Zardari appealed, but Swiss prosecutors dropped the case after the Pakistani parliament passed an ordinance giving the president and others immunity from old corruption cases that many agreed were politically motivated.