The Islamabad High Court constituted a bench on the petitions of Nawaz Sharif to restore the appeals against the sentence in the Al-Azizia reference and the Evanfeild reference .
According to the sources . a bench consisting of Chief Justice Amir Farooq , Justice Mian Gul Hassan will conduct the hearing. A special bench of the Islamabad High Court will hear Nawaz Sharif, it was said in the appeals that in the Avenfield reference, he was sentenced on july6, 2018, his wife was under treatment in London and on a ventilator, he requested a delay in the announcement of the verdict, which was not granted. The sentence was pronounced in his absence, so he returned to Pakistan and faced jail and filed appeals. In the petitions, it was contended that not knowingly, not being present for pursuing appeals due to ill health, not availing bail concession, not being able to appear before the court on medical grounds, medical reports on regular basis.
It should be remembered that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been convicted in Avenfield and Al-Azizia reference and is disqualified from public office for 1 years. On October 21 , Nawaz Sharif consulted his lawyers in the lounge of Islamabad Airport on his return home after 4 years and signed the petitions for reinstatement of appeals.
The court had accepted the appeals of Nawaz Sharif’s co-accused Maryam Nawaz and Captain Retired Safdar in the Avenfield reference and declared their punishment null and void and gave a decision to honorably acquit them from the NAB reference. While dismissing them, the judgment had written that if the authorities catch them or if they surrender, they can file a request for reinstatement of the appeals. the court has also stopped NAB from arresting Nawaz Sharif till October 24 to surrender him Two separate applications have been filed before the Islamabad High Court to restore the appeals against PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif’s sentence in the Avenfield and Al-Aziziz references of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
