Nawaz Sharif, daughter set to be released as court suspends jail sentence

Islamabad High Court on Wednesday suspended jail sentences handed to former Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Mohammad Safdar in Avenfield corruption case.

IHC was hearing the appeals filed by Sharifs and Capt Safdar against the judgement pronounced by the accountability court on July 6. The courts has accepted their petitions,and suspended their sentence. PML-N members present in the court started cheering as the verdict was announced, according to a report in Dawn.

A two-judge bench of the Islamabad High Court heard the petitions filed by former Sharif, 68, his daughter Maryam and son-in-law Capt (retd) Muhammad Safdar challenging their conviction related to the purchase of luxury flats in London.

Justice Athar Minallah read the judgment and suspended the sentences handed to them by the accountability court judge Mohammad Bashir on July 6. Sharif, 68, Maryam, 44, and Safdar, 54, were sentenced to 11 years, eight years and one year, respectively, in prison in the Avenfield properties case.

Sharif, Maryam and Safdar were also directed to submit bail bonds worth Rs 500,000. The court also dismissed the National Accountability Bureau's request to first announce a judgment on the maintainability of the pleas. The bench also imposed a fine on the NAB lawyers earlier for using delaying tactics.

The NAB was also pulled up by the Supreme Court on Monday when it rejected its petition challenging the IHC's decision to hear Sharifs' petitions against the Avenfield verdict.

Chief Justice Saqib Nisar termed the NAB petition as frivolous and imposed a Rs 20,000 fine on the anti-corruption watchdog.After the judgement by Islamabad High Court, Nawaz, Maryam and Capt Safdar will be released from jail after completion of formalities on Wednesday.

Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Mohammad Safdar returned to Pakistan on July 13 to face sentence handed out on July 6 by an accountability court in the Avenfield reference case, in which the judge ruled that Nawaz, Maryam and her husband Captain Safdar own assets beyond known income. They were respectively handed jail sentences of 10, seven and one year each. Nawaz’s daughter Maryam was given 7 years for abetment after she was found "instrumental in concealment of the properties of her father" and 1 year for non-cooperation with the bureau.

With PTI inputs