Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf’s bail over the 2007 army operation to oust militants from Islamabad’s Red Mosque has been approved by a Pakistani court.
The court approved bail on condition Pervez Musharraf pay bonds totaling $2,000.
But the former general remains on a government exit control list and cannot leave the country.
Speaking outside the court in the capital, his lawyer said Pervez Musharraf had no intention of leaving Pakistan.
The operation ordered by General Pervez Musharraf on the besieged Red Mosque left a cleric and more than 100 others dead, and fuelled a deadly militant insurgency inside Pakistan which rages to this day.
Earlier this year, he returned to Pakistan from self-imposed exile to fight elections – which were won by Nawaz Sharif, the man he ousted in his 1999 coup – but swiftly ran into trouble.
Pervez Musharraf’s bail over the 2007 army operation to oust militants from Islamabad’s Red Mosque has been approved by a Pakistani court
Pervez Musharraf was barred from running in the general election, and was placed under house arrest in April in the first of a series of cases relating to his time in power from 1999-2008.
He faces murder trials over the assassination of former PM Benazir Bhutto and Baloch tribal leader Nawab Akbar Bugti. He has also been charged over his attempt to sack the higher judiciary in 2007.
Pervez Musharraf has been bailed in all three of those cases.
Separately, the Sharif government said in June that it planned to try him for treason – but a formal complaint in that case has still to be lodged.
Pervez Musharraf insists all the charges against him are politically motivated.
His house arrest is unprecedented in a country which has been ruled by the military for more than half of its history.
The latest bail ruling means Pervez Musharraf could soon be free to move around Pakistan.
However, Pervez Musharraf is likely to remain under guard at his villa on the outskirts of Islamabad because of threats to his life.
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Oscar Pistorius, who faces murder charges over the shooting of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, has spent his first night out of custody after being granted bail.
At a pre-trial hearing on Friday, a Pretoria magistrate ruled the state had not made a case that the South African Paralympic champion would flee, or that he had a violent character.
Oscar Pistorius, 26, denies murder, saying he shot Reeva Steenkamp, 29, thinking she was an intruder at his home.
The next hearing is set for June 4.
Oscar Pistorius spent eight nights in a police cell in Pretoria, following his arrest on February 14. After Friday’s ruling granting him bail, he left the court in a silver car pursued by photographers.
The sprinter is staying at his uncle’s house in Pretoria.
Reports say Oscar Pistorius may start training again and hold talks with his coach.
Magistrate Desmond Nair set bail at 1 million rand ($113,000).
Oscar Pistorius was also ordered to hand over his passport, avoid his home in Pretoria and report to a police station every Monday and Friday.
Desmond Nair took almost two hours to deliver his judgement.
The magistrate criticized the testimony of Detective Hilton Botha for not following up important leads and changing his evidence.
Oscar Pistorius, who faces murder charges over the shooting of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, has spent his first night out of custody after being granted bail
Desmond Nair also said Oscar Pistorius had “reached out to meet the state’s case” and had given a full version of events at an early stage.
Oscar Pistorius’ family and supporters in the court gasped and cheered as the magistrate announced his decision.
His uncle, Arnold Pistorius, said outside court: “We are relieved by the fact that Oscar got bail today, but at the same time, we are in mourning for Reeva Steenkamp and her family.”
The hearing began on Tuesday and both prosecution and defence laid out their cases.
Both sides agree that Oscar Pistorius shot through the bathroom door four times, hitting and killing Reeva Steenkamp.
But prosecutors allege the shooting happened after the couple had an argument at Oscar Pistorius’s home in the early hours of February 14.
Det. Hilton Botha told the court that witnesses had heard shouting, screaming and gunfire from about 600 m (2,000 ft) away.
But later he changed his evidence to suggest the witnesses were much closer.
And on Thursday it emerged that Det. Hilton Botha faces allegations of attempted murder, and he was removed from the case.
Oscar Pistorius says he woke in the middle of the night, and thought there was an intruder in the bathroom.
The prosecutors sought to portray Oscar Pistorius as man with a history of violence who was likely to flee the country.
But the defence argued it would be impossible for Oscar Pistorius to flee because his prosthetic legs would be noticed wherever he went.
Reeva Steenkamp was a model and law graduate with a burgeoning television career.
Oscar Pistorius won gold medals at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, in Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012.
In London Oscar Pistorius made history by becoming the first double-amputee to run in the Olympics, making the semi-final of the 400 m.
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