Islamabad: A day after her jailed husband was convicted for corruption, former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto on September 13 suffered another major setback when a special election tribunal rejected her appeals against her disqualification for the next month's polls, sparking protests from hundreds of supporters.

The special election tribunal, comprising of two High Court judges, upheld the decision of the returning officers to reject her nomination papers filed to contest from three constituencies from her native Southern Sindh province, ending her grim battle from self-exile to contest the October 10 polls.

"The appeals are rejected," the tribunal said in a short judgement.

Police arrested more than a dozen Bhutto supporters, including 12 women, from outside the courtroom as the judgement resulted in the angry protests.

Hundreds of policemen and thousands of supporters of Bhutto-led Pakistan People's Party (PPP) had gathered outside the Sindh High Court Building in Karachi.

Police barred PPP activists from entering the courtroom. Some 200 PPP supporters managed to push past police cordons into the court premises, but not the courtroom.

Rubbing salt on her wounds, an anti-corruption court on September 12 night sentenced her jailed husband Asif Zardari to seven years imprisonment along with Rs 40 million fine in a corruption case in which was accused of taking kickbacks to the tune of Rs 32 million while awarding a government contract. He has been in prison since 1996.

The rejection of Bhutto's papers was followed by a decision of a special election tribunal in Lahore on September 12 night disqualifying brother and wife of deposed premier Nawaz Sharif to contest the forthcoming polls.

PTI