ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday acquitted Pakistan’s former Prime Minister and supremo of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Nawaz Sharif, in the Al-Azizia reference.
The two-member bench, comprising IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mian Gul Hassan Aurangzeb, delivered the verdict, overturning the conviction related to the Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference. The decision comes as Nawaz Sharif aims to contest the upcoming general elections scheduled for February 8, 2024, with the only remaining obstacle being his lifetime disqualification as a parliamentarian.
During today’s hearing, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecution team, Nawaz Sharif’s counsel Amjad Pervaiz, were present in the courtroom. The IHC, in a previous hearing, had rejected NAB’s request to remand the case back to a trial court and decided to hear the appeal “on merit.”
Nawaz Sharif was convicted in the Al-Azizia case by Islamabad Accountability Court-II judge Arshad Malik on December 24, 2018. The court had sentenced him to seven years in prison and imposed a fine of $2.5 million.
Nawaz Sharif’s Acquittal in Avenfield Case
This latest acquittal follows the IHC’s decision on November 29 to clear Nawaz Sharif in the Avenfield corruption reference, a case in which he was convicted by an accountability court in July 2018. The court had also accepted NAB’s request to withdraw its appeal against the accountability court’s order to acquit Nawaz in the Flagship reference.
