Nawaz Sharif challenges court verdict

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday challenged the verdict of the Islamabad High Court that had last week convicted him in a graft case related to the ownership of a property in Saudi Arabia.
The anti-corruption court awarded a seven-year jail term to Sharif in the Al-Azizia steel mill reference. Sharif is currently serving his incarceration in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail. The accountability court has also disqualified him from holding any public office for a period of ten years.

In his petition, Sharif said that the decision of the court was based on assumptions and false interpretation of the law. It stated that the evidence was misperceived and the accountability court had announced the verdict without hearing objections by the accused. The appeal seeks suspension of the sentence and Sharif’s release on bail.

Three corruption cases were filed against the former PM on the Supreme Court’s orders in the Panama Papers case verdict that had disqualified Sharif from office last year on July 28.

In July this year, the accountability court had sentenced him to 10 years in prison in the Avenfield reference, a case related to the purchase of upscale apartments in London. In September, the Islamabad High Court suspended his sentence and ordered his release on bail. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Pakistan’s anti-corruption watchdog, had challenged the Islamabad HC decision in the Supreme Court which is currently being heard by an apex court bench headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar.