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ISLAMABAD: The release of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and Captain (retd) Safdar from jail prompted celebrations among supporters waiting outside the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
The IHC on Wednesday ordered the release of jailed ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter. Suspending the sentences they received from the accountability court in July.
The Islamabad High Court suspended the 10-year sentence for Sharif and the seven-year term handed down to his daughter. Maryam, over corrupt practices linked to his family’s ownership of upscale London flats.
“I congratulate Nawaz Sharif’s supporters,” former foreign minister Khawaja Asif. A staunch Sharif ally said outside the courtroom where Sharif’s supporters celebrated wildly.
The Sharifs’ convictions are still under appeal with the same Islamabad High Court. But a judge on Wednesday ruled they should be freed immediately while the case continues.
Three-time prime minister Sharif ousted and disqualified from holding office by the Supreme Court in July 2017 and jailed earlier this year in absentia.
Sharif has repeatedly called the cases against him politically motivated.
The Sharif family had challenged the Accountability Court order which convicted them on July 06 in the corruption case.
When the hearing resumed today, NAB Prosecutor, Akram Qureshi began his arguments against the pleas. After the NAB official, Nawaz Sharif’s counsel Khawaja Haris took 10 mins to conclude his arguments.
Yesterday, the NAB Prosecutor, while expressing reservations over the bench, said that the media is saying that Justice Athar Minallah got close ties with Nawaz Sharif and played an important part in the former premier’s movement.
In a response, Justice Athar Minallah says: “Are you doubting my independence? That movement regarded the supremacy of law and you can see my judgments.” He further said that in the beginning, they asked both the parties that they will proceed further if they trusted the judges. “And now you are saying this,” Justice Athar lamented.
