Pakistani court rejects bail for former premier

By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AA) - A Pakistani high court on Monday rejected the bail application of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a corruption case.

A two-member bench of the Islamabad High Court announced the verdict on Sharif's petition seeking suspension of a seven-year sentence and bail on medical grounds.

Sharif, currently serving a seven-year prison term in the northeastern city of Lahore, shifted to hospital on a medical board recommendation in mid-February, as he suffers from diabetes, and a heart and chronic kidney disease.

A large number of Sharif's supporters who had gathered outside the court raised slogans against the government.

"The verdict is disappointing but we respect the courts and will file appeal against this decision," Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former prime minister and a senior leader of Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party, told reporters outside the court.

Last December, a local accountability court in Islamabad sentenced Sharif, 69, to seven years for corruption.

He was also sentenced to 10 years in jail in another corruption case last May, but the Islamabad High Court suspended the conviction.

His daughter and political heir Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law were also sentenced to seven years and one year in prison respectively in the same case, but are free on bail.

In September 2017, anti-corruption watchdog the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) accused Sharif of hiding assets in Saudi Arabia and the UAE in the name of his then-underage sons during his first two tenures as premier in the early 1990s.

That July, the three-time prime minister was disqualified from office by the Supreme Court over the Panama Papers scandal, which also led to the filing of three corruption cases. Not long after, the top court also barred him from holding his party's leadership.