IHC sets hearing of Sharif's plea against Al-Azizia reference conviction

ISLAMABAD - The Islamabad High Court has set September 18 as hearing day for a petition filed by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif against conviction in the Al-Azizia reference.

The Islamabad High Court would also hear the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) plea against his [Nawaz] acquittal in the Flagship reference on the same day.

An IHC division bench comprising Justice Amir Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani would conduct the hearings in the case.

The schedule of hearings comes a day after accountability court Judge Arshad Malik was removed over a video scandal that shocked the power corridors.

Malik’s services were returned to the Lahore High Court after the IHC requested his removal over a controversial video shared by Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz leader Maryam Nawaz.

The video shows the judge purportedly admitting to having been blackmailed into convicting the three-time former prime minister; the judge also claimed that he was offered bribe by Hussain Nawaz in an affidavit submitted to the IHC.

In December 2018, judge Arshad Malik convicted Nawaz Sharif in the Al-Azizia reference and acquitted him in the Flagship reference.

The former premier was sentenced to seven-year rigorous imprisonment in the Al-Azizia reference.