Islamabad, July 17 - Pakistan's Supreme Court Friday acquitted former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the 10-year-old plane hijacking case lodged against him by the government of General Pervez Musharraf, a media report said.

A five-member bench of the apex court, which heard the case June 18 and reserved its verdict, unanimously acquitted the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader declaring earlier court decisions invalid, Geo TV reported.

Sharif was sentenced to life imprisonment twice by the Karachi Anti-Terrorism Court (APC) in April 2000, after it found him guilty of refusing to allow a commercial aircraft carrying Musharraf and 200 other passengers to land at Karachi airport Oct 12, 1999.

That was the day when Musharraf carried out a bloodless coup to dethrone Sharif.