A three-member Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa is hearing a petition filed by former premier Nawaz Sharif challenging an Islamabad High Court (IHC) decision to not grant him bail on medical grounds in the Al Azizia case.
Sharif is serving a seven-year prison sentence awarded to him by an accountability court in the Al Azizia corruption case. The former premier had filed a bail plea in the IHC on medical grounds but it was turned down last month, as the high court noted that “none of the reports [about Sharif’s condition] suggest that continued incarceration of the petitioner, in any way, would be detrimental to his life”.
PML-N leaders including Pervaiz Malik, Shaista Pervaiz, Khurram Dastagir, Amir Muqam, Sadia Abbasi, Rana Sanaullah and Pervez Rashid arrived in the court ahead of the hearing today. Special security measures were taken to ensure “smooth functioning” of the court during the hearing, which is being held in Court Room No 1.
Sharif’s lawyer Khawaja Haris briefed the court regarding former premier’s medical reports. The chief justice pointed out that Haris had submitted an additional document in court, to which the lawyer responded that it was a letter from Dr Lawrence to Dr Adnan. When the court inquired who Dr Adnan was, Haris replied that he was Sharif’s personal physician.
Justice Khosa remarked that the document was a correspondence between “two ordinary people”.
“How can we know who wrote the letter to whom? This is merely a correspondence between two ordinary people,” he said, adding that the bench had read it because it was submitted by Haris. Sharif’s lawyer clarified that he was “not depending upon the letter” in this case.
