SC dismisses Nawaz Sharif’s plea for early hearing of bail petition

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – The Supreme Court dismisses former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s plea for early hearing of the bail petition on Monday. The court rules that Nawaz Sharif’s bail plea will be fixed on its turn. Nawaz Sharif, through his counsel Khawaja Haris, had requested the court to fix the bail petition on March 6. Earlier on Friday, Nawaz Sharif challenged the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) verdict on his petition seeking bail on medical grounds in the SC. Nawaz Sharif petitioned the SC against a decision by the IHC rejecting him bail in Al-Azizia corruption reference. The former premier’s counsel Khawaja Haris earlier filed a petition in the apex court seeking that the IHC decision be declared null and void. A day earlier, the former premier’s legal team has received a copy of the original document of the decision from the high court. Nawaz was sentenced to seven years in prison and fined Rs1.5 billion and US$25 million in the Al-Azizia corruption reference, in a verdict by an accountability court on December 24, 2018. The former premier is currently imprisoned at Kot Lakhpat jail. He was earlier admitted at hospital on February 15 owing to his illness.

IHC dismisses Nawaz Sharif’s plea for bail on medical grounds

On February 25, the IHC dismissed the bail plea of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on medical grounds in the Al-Azizia reference. The two-member bench comprising Justice Amir Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani announced the verdict. The court ruled that the bail cannot be granted on medical grounds. The detailed judgement will be announced later on. On the other hand, the PML-N has announced to challenge the verdict in Supreme Court of Pakistan. Talking to the media, former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that the IHC verdict had disappointed them. “We hoped that the verdict would be announced in our favour,” he said. The security was beefed up in and around the high court on Monday with the deployment of additional contingents in the area.