Pak court to hear Nawaz Sharif's appeal against his conviction in Al-Azizia corruption case

Islamabad: The Islamabad High Court will hear on Thursday an appeal by former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif against his conviction in the Al-Azizia Steel mill corruption case.

Sharif, 73, was sentenced to seven years in jail and imposed a heavy fine by an anti-corruption court in December 2018 after he failed to convince the court that he had nothing to do with the steel mill set up by his father in 2001 in Saudi Arabia.

Sharif was serving the jail term in the case when he was granted rare permission to seek medical



treatment abroad in October 2019. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo chose not to return from London despite repeated court summonses, leading to both the Islamabad High Court (IHC) and an accountability court declaring him a proclaimed offender. 

Sharif, the only Pakistani politician who became the prime minister of the coup-prone country for a record three times, returned to the country about four years later last month to lead his party in general elections scheduled in February 2024.