[JURIST] Pakistan’s former president Pervez Musharraf [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] was placed under house arrest on Friday. He appeared before a magistrate [CNN report] after he was arrested in his home in the suburbs of Islamabad. Musharraf escaped the court premises on Thursday after an arrest warrant [JURIST report] was issued against him on charges of detaining judges during his time in office. Musharraf will be held in custody for two days in his home and then be presented before an anti-terrorism court. His counsel stated that he will continue to appeal the decision canceling his their bail, while Musharraf called the actions against him politically motivated.

Along with the arrest warrant, Judge Shaukat Siddiquialso canceled the bail [JURIST report] that was granted to Musharraf last Friday. Also last week the Pakistan Supreme Court delayed Musharraf’s treason hearing [JURIST report] until this week to give his lawyers enough time to prepare a response to the allegations. In March Human Rights Watch urged [JURIST report] Pakistan to hold Musharraf accountable for alleged human rights abuses upon his return to the country. Last year Pakistani authorities pledged to arrest [JURIST report] Musharraf for his alleged involvement in Bhutto’s assassination. In August 2011 a court ordered seizure of his property [JURIST report] and froze his bank account after he failed to respond to multiple subpoenas regarding the assassination investigation. In February 2011 Pakistani authorities issued an arrest warrant for the former president but were unable to serve the warrant [JURIST report] because he was in London. The warrant was issued weeks after investigations revealed [JURIST report] that Musharraf had issued orders to the police officers accused of failing to protect Bhutto to remove security detail for her departure on the day of her assassination.