Pak court rejects ex-PM's bail plea
A Pakistani court yesterday rejected a plea by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to be released on bail and have a seven-year prison term over the ownership of a steel mill in Saudi Arabia suspended, court documents showed.
Sharif is currently serving a seven-year sentence imposed last year for failing to disclose the source of income that allowed him to acquire the Al-Azizia Steel Mills in Saudi Arabia. He has appealed.
Yesterday's ruling related to an additional plea for bail on medical grounds after Sharif was admitted to hospital for treatment for a heart condition.
The court ruled his condition didn't qualify him for bail because all medical facilities were available to him.
"We're surely disappointed by this decision," Sharif's aide, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, told reporters, adding that a government medical board had called for urgent treatment. But he said his party would respect the court decision.
"We have always respected court decisions," he said. "We will take all necessary legal recourse."
Pakistan's Supreme Court removed three-time premier Sharif from office in July 2017 for not disclosing part of a salary drawn from his son's company and he was later convicted in two separate cases of failing to disclose sources of income.
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