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The Islamabad High Court granted protective bail to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif in the Avenfield and Al-Azizia cases until October 24, Dawn reported on Thursday.
It comes before the former premier's impending arrival on October 21. His planned return to Pakistan would be after almost four years of self-imposed exile. In July 2018, ousted Nawaz was handed 10 years in jail in the Avenfield properties corruption reference for owning assets beyond known income and one year for not cooperating with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which was to be served concurrently, according to Dawn. His daughter and PML-N Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz, had also been sentenced to seven years in jail in the case but was acquitted in September 2022 along with her husband retired Captain Safdar. The Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference pertains to the case in which he was sentenced to seven years in jail on Dec 24, 2018, and then taken to Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail, from where he was shifted to Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail next day. He was also fined Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 1.5 billion and USD 25 million in the case, Dawn reported. Nawaz was released from jail in March 2019, following which he left for London in November 2019 after the LHC allowed him to do so. The IHC declared him a proclaimed offender in both cases in December 2020. PML-N lawyers moved the IHC on Wednesday seeking protective bail for Nawaz in these two cases, with NAB Special Prosecutor Afzal Qureshi saying that the accountability watchdog did not object to pleas moved by the elder Sharif. IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hasan Aurangzeb took up the pleas on Thursday. Nawaz's counsels, including former law minister Azam Nazir Tarar and Amjad Pervaiz, appeared before the court while NAB prosecutors Rana Maqsood, Qureshi and Naeem Sanghera were also present. Subsequently, the IHC accepted the former prime minister's pleas, granting him protective bail and restraining the police from arresting him upon his arrival in the country on October 21, Dawn reported. Dawn reported citing the court order that since the respondent had "accorded its consent and decided not to contest the petition, let the petitioner appear before this court on October 24". "Meanwhile, he shall not be arrested on his arrival in Pakistan until he surrenders before this court," the order stated. (ANI)
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