IHC exempted Nawaz Sharif from personal appearance
26 November, 2019
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) exempted Nawaz Sharif from personal appearance in the hearing of an appeal filed against his conviction in the Al-Azizia reference.
The court took up two identical petitions filed by counsel of Mr Sharif and Mr Butt seeking probe in the matter related to the judge video scandal.
An IHC division bench comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani put off further hearing till a fortnight.
The National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) prosecution informed the court that the bureau had filed the reply to the miscellaneous petitions of Mr Sharif and Mr Butt.
The court suggested the petitioner’s counsel to examine the NAB’s response and then advance the arguments by next date.
Hearing another Mr Butt’s petition seeking attestation of the evidence against former accountability judge Malik, the court directed the federal government to formally respond in writing to his application.
The counsel of Mr Butt informed the court that his client requested the officials of Pakistani High Commission in the UK to attest the transcripts of the conversation between judge Malik and Mr Butt, video recording and forensic report of the evidence.
Syed Mohammad Tayyab, deputy attorney general, argued that since Mr Butt is an accused and fugitive, therefore, he was not entitled to get documents verified by the high commission.
The court observed that Mr Butt had not been declared as absconder by the trial court.
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