Islamabad HC to hear Sharif's plea against Avenfield reference on Sept 1

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) is set to hear former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's appeal against the Avenfield reference on September 1.

The court will also hear the appeal of Sharif's daughter Maryam and son-in-law Captain (retd) Muhammad Safdar, The Express Tribune reported.

The IHC is expected to hear the matter after a gap of nearly two years since the last hearing of the appeal on September 19, 2018. A special bench comprising Justice Amir Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani will hear the case, as per a list issued by the court's registrar.

In the last hearing, the High Court had suspended the 10-year, seven-year and one-year jail terms awarded to Sharif, Maryam and Safdar in the Avenfield case. Later, the Pakistan Supreme Court had upheld the High Court's decision while hearing the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which challenged the suspension.

The court is also set to hear Nawaz's appeal filed against his conviction in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption case on September 1. The NAB's appeals -- one seeking an increase in Sharif's sentence in the case from seven years to 14 years, and another challenging the former Prime Minister's acquittal in the Flagship Investment reference -- have also been fixed for hearing, according to the report.

The same bench comprising Justice Farooq and Justice Kayani is expected to hear the Al-Azizia matter on September 18.

On August 22, Federal Information Minister Shibli Faraz said that the Imran Khan-led government would use the legal process to bring back Sharif to Pakistan from the UK.

"We will use all legal means to bring Nawaz Sharif back. The government has decided to contact the British government through the Foreign Office to bring him back. Nawaz Sharif should come back," Faraz was quoted as saying at a press conference in Islamabad.

Sharif had left for the UK in November last year for medical treatment.

Faraz said that the government and court permitted Sharif to leave the country on humanitarian grounds.

"Nawaz Sharif went to London under the pretext of treatment, but once there he did not go for even an X-ray. He made a mockery of the country's laws under the pretext of his illness," he added.