Pakistan: Nawaz Sharif to return to jail as six-week bail given on medical grounds expires
The former prime minister is likely to surrender himself to authorities at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail after Iftar in the evening.
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will return to prison on Tuesday as the six-week bail he was granted on medical grounds has expired. He is likely to surrender himself to authorities at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail after Iftar in the evening, PTI reported.
In March, the country’s Supreme Court had granted Sharif interim bail after his counsel argued that the former prime minister urgently needed angiography. The Supreme Court has rejected his review petition seeking extension in the bail, and another plea to allow him to travel abroad for treatment.
Sharif, who is serving a sentence in a corruption case, is expected to arrive at the prison in a rally of the workers of his party, the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz). The Home Department of the Punjab province had earlier said his arrival in the form of a rally would be against the law.
In its order giving him bail, the Supreme Court had said that several senior doctors had suggested that Sharif’s history of hypertension, cardiac and renal ailments may present a “mild-moderate risk” if he is to undergo angiography. The court had said granting him relief for a limited period was a “reasonable request”.
The court had asked Sharif to deposit two bail bonds worth Rs 5 million each. It also imposed certain conditions like the former prime minister cannot leave the country and will have to surrender after six weeks, failing which he will be arrested.
In December, a court in Pakistan had sentenced Sharif to seven years in jail and fined him $2.5 million (approximately Rs 17.5 crore) in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption case. The Avenfield and Al-Azizia Steel Mills cases were among three cases filed by the National Accountability Bureau against Sharif and his children in September 2017 – the third being the Flagship Investment case in which the former prime minister was acquitted.