Sharifs challenge verdict in Islamabad high court

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and two of his family members on Monday filed separate appeals in

Islamabad high court

challenging the verdict of an anti-corruption court which had sent them to jail in the Avenfield graft case.


Sharif and his daughter Maryam were arrested in Lahore on Friday on their return from London after an accountability court found them guilty in the Avenfield reference, related to the purchase of four luxury apartments by his family in London.

Their lawyers on Monday filed seven separate appeals, three on behalf of Sharif, and two each on behalf of Maryam and her husband Mohammad Safdar.

On July 6, the accountability court sentenced Sharif in absentia to 10 years in prison in the Avenfield reference, related to the purchase of four luxury apartments by his family in London, and one year for not co-operating with the

National Accountability Bureau

(NAB), the country's anti-graft body. His daughter, Maryam, was awarded seven years in prison for abetting a crime and one year for not co-operating with the investigators, while her husband Safdar was given a one-year sentence for non-cooperation with the NAB. The court had also slapped Sharif and Maryam with £8m and £2m fines, respectively.

In the first appeal, Khawaja Haris, Sharif's lawyer, urged the court to set aside the accountability court's verdict in the Avenfield reference, another appeal sought to suspend the said verdict until the Islamabad HC passes a decision on the NAB court's verdict, and a third requested to transfer the two remaining corruption references against Nawaz Sharif to another judge.

Advocate Amjad Pervez filed two appeals each on behalf of Maryam and her husband, urging the HC to set aside the NAB court's verdict. In the second petition, a request was made to suspend the anti-graft court's sentence until the HC passes a judgement on the matter.

The Avenfield reference was one of the three corruption cases filed against Sharif and his children by the NAB on the Supreme Court's orders in the Panama Papers case verdict that had disqualified the former PM from office on July 28 last year.

Nawaz and his sons, Hussain and Hasan, were accused in all three cases whereas Maryam and Safdar were accused in the Avenfield reference only. The court has already declared Sharif's sons as absconders for failing to face the trial.