Pakistan charges four with treason

KARACHI: Pakistan on Thursday charged three politicians and a trade union leader with treason for making speeches against President Pervez Musharraf's imposition of emergency rule, court officials said.   

The four were remanded in custody for two weeks by a court in the southern city of Karachi, two days after they were arrested for criticising Musharraf in addresses at the city's press club, they said.   

Treason -- or sedition, as the activists have been formally charged with -- carries a maximum sentence of death. The arrested men are Baluch nationalist leader Hasil Bizenjo, his party's provincial chief Ayub Qureshi, the vice-president of the National Workers Party, Yusuf Mustikhan, and trade union leader Liaquat Sahi.   

The men were also accused of distributing pamphlets against the state of emergency declared by Musharraf, police and Bizenjo's party spokesman Jan Buledi said. On Wednesday, Karachi police registered sedition cases against eight lawyers, including a woman, on charges of inciting people against the state of emergency. The lawyers have gone into hiding.   

Musharraf on Saturday suspended the country's constitution, imposed a state of emergency and slapped curbs on the media. Earlier this week police beat and arrested hundreds of lawyers for launching a campaign against emergency rule.