IHC acquits Nawaz Sharif in Al-Azizia reference

Islamabad:The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday acquitted former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption case and set aside his verdict.

A two-judge IHC bench comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and IHC Judge Mian Gul Hassan Aurangzeb heard the case. The prosecution team of the National Audit Bureau (NAB), PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and his lawyer Amjad Pervaiz appeared in court. Tight security measures were taken in and around the court premises and heavy police presence was deployed. A large number of pro-PML-N lawyers were also present at the court premises, and there were large numbers of party supporters outside the IHC building. At the previous hearing, the IHC decided to hear the former prime minister’s appeal against his conviction in the Al-Azizia steel mills case on the “merits” and rejected NAB’s request to send the case back to court.

Read: Avenfield Reference: Nawaz Sharif’s sentence decision annulled

On December 24, 2018, Judge Arshad Malik of Islamabad’s Second Accountability Court sentenced Nawaz to seven years in prison and a fine of $2.5 million in the Al-Azizia case.
The same judge acquitted the former prime minister in a key case. However, in July 2019, the responsible judge became controversial after a video surfaced in which he allegedly confessed that he was “coerced” by PML-N leaders into convicting Nawaz.
A High Court hearing petition filed in the wake of the video scandal ordered a case against Malik in August 2019, and a Lahore High Court (LHC) Disciplinary Committee in July 2020 cited Malik for misconduct. had been dismissed. However, interestingly, in view of the video scandal, Nawaz’s lawyer, who had earlier filed a civil petition with the IHC seeking the acquittal of the PML-N leader in the al-Azizia case, said that Nawaz was accused of Malik’s accusations because of He made it clear that he did not want to carry out the petition.

By the grace of Allah Almighty my brother and quaid Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has been vindicated once again.

The sham cases created to disqualify a sitting Prime Minister are finally meeting their fate.

The 7 years wasted were not just a personal loss but a loss of development… pic.twitter.com/DxEVA7aigG

— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) December 12, 2023

On November 29, the same court acquitted Nawaz Sharif in the Avenfield corruption case in which he was convicted by an accountability court in July 2018. The court had also granted NAB’s request to withdraw its appeal against the accountability court’s order acquitting Nawaz in the main case.