Nawaz Sharif's jail term suspended by Islamabad HC, to be released

Islamabad High Court has suspended the jail sentence of former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif in a corruption case.

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif gestures as he leaves after attending a press conference of his daughter Maryam Nawaz (L) in Islamabad on May 29, 2018. Photo: AFP

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court has suspended the jail sentence of former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif in a corruption case, Pakistan media reported on Wednesday. Jail sentence of Sharif's daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain (retd) Muhammad Safdar has also been suspended. The court gave the judgment on petitions filed by the Nawaz family challenging the Avenfield verdict against them. The two-judge bench ordered the release of the former premier, his daughter and son-in-law. Nawaz, Maryam and Capt (retd) Safdar were also directed to submit bail bonds worth Rs0.5 million each, Geo News reported. Justice Athar Minallah read the judgment and suspended the sentences handed to them by accountability court judge Mohammad Bashir on July 6.  Sharif, Maryam and Safdar were sentenced to 11 years, eight years and one year, respectively, in prison in the Avenfield properties case. Sharif, Maryam and Safdar were also directed to submit bail bonds worth Rs 0.5 million each. The court also dismissed the National Accountability Bureau's request to first announce a judgment on the maintainability of the pleas. The bench also imposed a fine on the NAB lawyers earlier for using delaying tactics. The NAB was also pulled up by the Supreme Court on Monday when it rejected its petition challenging the IHC's decision to hear Sharifs' petitions against the Avenfield verdict. Chief Justice Saqib Nisar termed the NAB petition as frivolous and imposed a Rs 20,000 fine on the anti-corruption watchdog. A large number of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders, including Shehbaz Sharif, Pervaiz Rashid and Khurram Dastgir, were present in the courtroom for the hearing. Sharif resigned as Pakistan prime minister last year after the Supreme Court disqualified him from holding public office and ruled that graft cases be filed against the beleaguered leader and his children over the Panama Papers scandal. The Avenfield case was among the three corruption cases filed against the three-time former premier and his children by the NAB on the Supreme Court's orders in the Panama Papers case which disqualified Sharif. (With inputs from PTI)