ISLAMABAD, July 10 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The party of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto cried foul Wednesday, July 10, over a new absconding conviction against their leader, charging that it is part of an alleged drive by the military government to keep her from contesting October elections.

"We believe that this is part of the government's drive to push Benazir Bhutto out of politics, out of the electoral contest," said Pakistan People's Party (PPP) spokesman Farhatullah Babar.

An accountability court on Tuesday, July 9, convicted Bhutto, who lives in self-imposed exile in London and Dubai, of failing to appear for trial on four-year old corruption charges, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.

It is the second absconding conviction against the two-time former prime minister this year.

The same court in May 2002 convicted her of failing to appear in a re-trial of a separate graft case, for which she had been convicted in 1998.

The Supreme Court set aside the 1998 graft conviction in mid-2000 and ordered the accountability court to re-try the case, AFP reported.

The graft trial for which she failed to appear on Tuesday related to kickbacks she allegedly received from "a monopolistic gold import license" granted to Dubai-based company ARY Gold in December 1994, when she was prime minister.

The court on Tuesday sentenced her to three years' prison with hard labor and ordered the confiscation of her property for failing to appear.

The PPP's Babar said both absconding convictions were facilitated by a two-year-old law, introduced under President Pervez Musharraf, which forbids absent defendants from being represented by a defense counsel.

"Previously under the law an accused outside the country could be represented by a counsel, but the government changed the law forbidding an accused living abroad to be represented by a counsel," he said.

"Our position is that she is not an absconder under the law. Since her defense counsel is representing her, she is represented in the court," said Babar, referring to the previous law which allows defendants to be represented in absentia.

"It is nothing but a calculated attempt to keep Benazir Bhutto out of politics."

The conviction is the latest obstacle to Bhutto's reported desire to return to Pakistan after four years in exile to run in parliamentary elections set for October, AFP said.

One of 23 constitutional changes proposed by Musharraf bars candidates who have "been convicted for a crime involving moral turpitude or for giving false evidence" from standing for office.

Apart from the two absconding convictions Bhutto now has against her, another three graft charges dating back to 1997 are still pending. Her 1998 graft conviction remains set aside.

On Saturday, July 6, 2002, Musharraf issued a decree banning former prime ministers and provincial chief ministers from a third term, effectively ruling out Bhutto and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, whom Musharraf ousted.

Opposition parties and observers say the decree is clearly targeted at Bhutto and Sharif, although the decree also eliminates at least seven other former prime ministers and chief ministers.

Bhutto's husband, jailed former senator Asif Ali Zardari, was also accused in the gold import case, but no conviction was made against him.

Bhutto and Zardari were both convicted in the 1998 case, which concerned alleged kickbacks worth millions of dollars from a pre-shipment contract with a Swiss firm during her 1993-96 rule, AFP said.

That conviction was set aside by the Supreme Court on the grounds it was "biased".

The three other graft charges pending against Bhutto were all filed in the courts in 1997 while her rival Nawaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League was prime minister.