SC grants former premier Nawaz bail for six weeks on medical grounds, but bars him from leaving country
Top court ruling says Nawaz will have to surrender himself to jail authorities after six weeks
The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted former premier Nawaz Sharif bail for six weeks, suspending his sentence and giving him the freedom to obtain medical treatment of his choice within the country.
After Sharif’s counsel successfully argued that the former prime minister urgently needed angiography, a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa accepted Sharif’s appeal on medical grounds.
The court noted that several senior doctors had suggested that Sharif’s history of hypertension, cardiac and renal ailments may present a “mild-moderate risk” if he is to undergo angiography, and therefore granting him relief for a limited period was a “reasonable” request.
It subsequently directed Sharif to deposit two bail bonds worth Rs5 million each, receive medical treatment, and surrender his custody after six weeks.
The short order, read out by the chief justice in Court Room No 1, warned that Sharif will have to surrender himself to jail authorities once the six weeks are over. If he fails to surrender, he will be arrested. Sharif was further barred from leaving the country.
Khawaja Haris, Sharif’s legal counsel, had requested bail for eight weeks citing an “urgent angiography” required by Sharif.
After the short order was announced, Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz expressed her relief via a tweet.
Several PML-N leaders, including former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb, also welcomed the decision in talks with the media.
Sharif has been serving a seven-year prison sentence awarded to him by an accountability court in the Al Azizia corruption case.
The former premier had earlier filed a bail plea in the IHC on medical grounds, but it was turned down last month, as the high court noted that “none of the reports [about Sharif’s condition] suggest that continued incarceration of the petitioner, in any way, would be detrimental to his life”.
As the hearing began, Sharif’s lawyer Haris apprised the court of the former premier’s medical record.
The chief justice observed at the outset that Haris had submitted an additional document to the court, which the lawyer explained was a letter from one Dr Lawrence to Dr Adnan. When the court inquired who Dr Adnan was, Haris replied saying he was Sharif’s personal physician.
Justice Khosa remarked that the document was correspondence between “‘Person A’ and ‘Person B'” and not addressed to the court. He therefore questioned the legal status of the letter.
“How can we determine this letter’s authenticity? This letter has been written by a private individual to another private individual,” Justice Khosa said, adding that the bench had only read it because it was submitted by Haris.
Sharif’s lawyer clarified that he was “not depending upon the letter” in this case.
Haris told the court that the former premier is suffering from several heart ailments and had gone through open-heart surgery and, therefore, requires an angiography, “which is a complicated matter”.
Justice Khosa subsequently asked if the petitioner had any other proof of Sharif’s deteriorating health apart from Dr Lawrence’s letter.
Haris told the bench that five medical boards had been formed to examine Sharif’s medical condition and every one of them had declared that the former premier’s kidney ailment was at the third stage.
They had also recommended that he should be admitted to a hospital, Haris said, adding that Sharif had been “diagnosed with angina” and that he had “already had two attacks”.
He insisted that Sharif’s condition was “worsening day by day” and urged the court to consider the “seriousness of Sharif’s medical condition”.
According to Sharif’s medical reports, Justice Khosa remarked, the former prime minister had been suffering from heart ailments since 2003. The chief justice further observed that despite suffering from these medical conditions for several years, Sharif had “quite an active routine”.
He added that the court had already reviewed Sharif’s medical reports submitted earlier and nothing in them suggested that Sharif was in danger.
However, Haris continued to insist that Sharif would be “stressed” if he remains in jail. He added that it would not be “appropriate” to treat him while he is under stress.
The chief justice noted that Sharif is a convict, and added that even if the court grants him bail for a few weeks, he will have to return to jail, where he will face similar stressful conditions.
Separately, NAB’s legal counsel, during his arguments, said that none of Sharif’s reports mentioned his ailments and had merely recommended checkups. He insisted that the former prime minister was being “monitored 24 hours a day”. He refuted Haris’ argument that Sharif is suffering from a life-threatening disease.
Justice Yahya Afridi, who was part of the bench, asked: “If his [Sharif] life is not in danger then why have the medical boards recommended that he goes through an angiography?”
“You [NAB] should open a hospital,” the chief justice said, and asked why every person who was being investigated by NAB faced mental duress.
“NAB’s attitude is such that people have started to commit suicide,” he said, adding that the top court was “looking into that matter as well”.
