Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday announced he was returning to Pakistan following the the 10-year prison sentence handed to him by the accountability court here, saying he has been punished because he tried to turn the course of the country's 70-year history.

Sharif, along with his daughter Maryam Nawaz -- who was also handed seven-year prison time -- held a press conference in London hours after the verdict in the Avenfield corruption reference was announced.