Nawaz Sharif moves SC against rejection of bail plea in corruption case

In the petition filed through his counsel Khawaja Haris in the apex court, Sharif said the Islamabad High Court (IHC) rejected the application despite the fact that he needed immediate medical attention due to his deteriorating health conditions.

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Currently, Sharif is kept in the Kot Lakhpat Jail, Lahore. Though he was shifted to the hospital many times for medical care. (File)

Pakistan’s former premier Nawaz Sharif, who is currently serving a seven-year jail term in Lahore for corruption, Friday filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the dismissal of his bail plea by a high court.

In the petition filed through his counsel Khawaja Haris in the apex court, Sharif said the Islamabad High Court (IHC) rejected the application despite the fact that he needed immediate medical attention due to his deteriorating health conditions.

A two-member bench of the IHC comprising Justices Aamer Farooq and Mohsin Akhtar Kayani rejected his bail plea on medical grounds on February 25.

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In its decision, the court said that Sharif, 69, could not be given bail on health grounds as he was already being treated at a hospital.

Sharif asked the court to declare the high court’s dismissal orders as null and void.

The high court bench in a nine-page judgment had said: “In fact the reports of Board of Doctors and various Teams constituted, are indicative of the fact that the petitioner is receiving best possible medical treatment available to any individual in Pakistan.”

It said that facts highlighted by the medical reports cannot be regarded as an “extraordinary situation” and/or case of “extreme hardship” to give bail to the petitioner.

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Three corruption cases – Avenfield properties, Flagship investment and Al-Azizia steel mills – were registered against the Sharif family by the NAB in 2017 following a judgment by the Supreme Court that disqualified Sharif in the Panama Papers case in 2017.

He was sentenced to 10 years in prison in the Avenfiled case in July 2018 which was related to his properties in London. Later he was given bail in September.

In December, the accountability court convicted him in the Al-Azizia case but acquitted him in the Flagship reference

Currently, he is kept in the Kot Lakhpat Jail, Lahore. Though he was shifted to the hospital many times for medical care.