Pakistan court set to hear Sharif's appeal against his conviction

A Pakistani court will hear on Wednesday the appeal of jailed former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif against his conviction in a corruption case.

Sharif, 69, has been serving a seven-year prison term at the Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore since December 24, 2018 when the accountability court convicted him in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills graft case.

A two-member division bench of Islamabad High Court (IHC) comprising of Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani will conduct the hearing.

The same bench will also take up an appeal by the National Accountability Court Bureau, the prosecuting agency in the case, to increase his sentence.

Sharif was removed as prime minister following a judgement by the Supreme Court on July 28, 2017. The top court also ordered to launch three cases of corruption against Sharif and his family.

Sharif along with his daughter Maryam and son-in-law Mohammad Safdar was convicted in the Avenfiled case last year but the sentence was later suspended by the IHC. The case was related to the ownership of the Sharif family's apartments at Avenfield House, London.

He was however convicted in the Al-Azizia steel mill case for owning assets beyond means. However, Sharif was exonerated by the accountability court in the Flagship corruption case.

Sharif's family and lawyer insist that the former premier should be set free as the judgment was tainted and the judge who delivered the verdict was also removed.

Justice Arshad Malik was removed after his daughter Maryam released a video in which he was purportedly seen confessing in a chat with a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader that he was under immense pressure from certain elements to convict the three-time premier in the graft case.