Court puts off death plea for Sharif

Chief Justice Syed Saeed Ashhad, chairing a three-judge Sindh High Court bench, said the admissibility of the prosecution’s applications would be decided on May 22.

Sharif, ousted in a military coup in October, was convicted of hijacking and terrorism and sentenced to life imprisonment by an anti-terrorism court in Karachi on April 6.

But the trial court judge Rehmat Hussain Jafri acquitted six co-accused, including his brother Shahbaz.

All seven were in court when the proceedings opened amid tight security.

The defendants acquitted by Jafri remain in jail on corruption charges and on Sunday were shifted from the Attock Fort interrogation centre near Islamabad to join Sharif in Karachi’s Landhi jail.

Adjourning the proceedings at the request from Shahbaz and the other five so they could consult family members and hire a lawyer, the judge said the court would simultaneously hear the two prosecution appeals, and an appeal by Sharif against his conviction.

The panel includes judges Sarmad Jalal Usmani and Wahid Bakhsh Brohi.