Situationer: Nawaz’s appeals against Avenfield, Al-Azizia conviction to be heard on 21st

ISLAMABAD: The Avenfield reference trial against Nawaz Sharif lasted 9 months and 28 days in the accountability court, while the Al-Azizia reference trial was completed in one year, three months and 16 days.

Nawaz Sharif spent a total of 10 months and 26 days in jail in both references and appeared before accountability courts more than 100 times during the trial.

The Supreme Court had on October 26, 2016 declared the Panama case against Nawaz Sharif as maintainable and on July 28, 2017 the Supreme Court declared Nawaz Sharif ineligible for becoming prime minister and directed the National Accountability Bureau to file references with the accountability court. NAB filed Al-Azizia Steel Mills, Flagship Investment and Avenfield references against Nawaz Sharif on September 8, 2017. On September 26, 2017, Nawaz Sharif appeared in the accountability court for the first time and then a long series of appearances continued. On July 6, 2018, Nawaz Sharif was sentenced to 10 years in prison in the Avenfield case.

He was not in the country at the time of the Avenfield reference’s judgment announcement. He was in London to visit his ailing wife Kulsoom Nawaz and the decision was announced in his absence.

On July 13, 2018, Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz were arrested from Lahore airport on their return home and transferred to jail. When the 2018 general elections were held in Pakistan on July 25, 2018, Nawaz Sharif was in jail along with his daughter and son-in-law Captain retired Safdar.

He was granted bail on September 19, 2018 after the general elections. On December 24, 2018, Nawaz Sharif was sentenced to 7 years in prison in the Al-Azizia case, after which he was arrested again. In March 2019, on the order of the Supreme Court, Nawaz Sharif was granted bail by suspending his sentence for six weeks on medical grounds, after six weeks, Nawaz Sharif went back to jail.

On October 29, 2019, the Islamabad High Court again suspended the sentence in the Al-Azizia reference for eight weeks on medical grounds.

On November 12, 2019, the government granted Nawaz Sharif conditional permission to go abroad for four weeks for treatment.

On November 16, 2019, the Lahore High Court ordered the removal of Nawaz Sharif’s name from the ECL, after which former prime minister Nawaz Sharif left for London for treatment on November 19, 2019.

When the appeals against the sentence in absentia were scheduled for hearing, on December 2, 2020, the Islamabad High Court declared Nawaz Sharif as proclaimed offender in the Avenfield and Al-Azizia case, while on June 24, 2021, the Islamabad High Court dismissed his appeals for non-compliance and observed that whenever he comes back, he can apply and get his appeals reinstated.

On October 19, 2023, the Islamabad High Court issued an order not to arrest Nawaz Sharif until October 24 on the request for protective bail to surrender.

On October 24, 2023, Nawaz Sharif surrendered to the High Court which extended the order not to arrest him till October 26, while issuing a notice to NAB on the requests to restore the appeals against the sentences in the Avenfield and Al-Azizia cases.

The Accountability Court of Islamabad had also cancelled the warrants in the Tosha Khana case after the surrender of Nawaz Sharif. NAB had filed a Tosha Khana reference against him during his absence before the accountability court, in which despite a court notice, the court continued to issue a perpetual arrest warrant, declaring him a proclaimed offender for his continued absence.

On October 26, 2023, the Islamabad High Court reinstated both appeals against Nawaz Sharif’s sentence, and the appeals are scheduled for hearing on November 21, 2023, due to NAB’s non-objection. A two-member division bench comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mian Gul Hasan Aurangzeb will hear the appeals. In the Avenfield reference, the division bench of the High Court had already acquitted Maryam Nawaz and Captain retired Safdar.