Nawaz Sharif's bail plea on medical grounds rejected

ISLAMABAD - The Lahore High Court (IHC) on Thursday rejected bail application filed by former minister prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

Nawaz, who is currently behind bars in Al-Azizia steel mills corruption case, had filed a plea before the IHC to suspend his sentence and grant him bail on medical grounds.

A two-member bench, headed by Justice Aamer Farooq and Mohsin Kiyani, announced the decision.

Sharif's counsel Khawaja Haris had told the court that his client was suffering from multiple dangerous diseases including diabetes, blood pressure and cardiac-related problems that cannot be treated in Pakistan, pleading to the bench to grant him as his life is in danger.

But the superintendent of the Kot Lakhpat jail and a medical officer earlier this week informed the court that Nawaz Sharif’s health condition was better under the current medical treatment offered to him. The jail superintendent also pleaded with the court to dispose of Nawaz Sharif's bail application.

An accountability court had awarded the former prime minister a seven-year jail sentence and Rs1.5 billion fine in the al-Azizia steel mills corruption case last year.