Islamabad - Pakistan's Supreme Court
agreed on Tuesday to release former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
on bail for six weeks to receive medical treatment but said he
would not be allowed to leave the country.
Sharif is 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.
The case was heard by a three-judge panel headed by Chief
Justice Asif Saeed Khosa.
The three-time former premier has been suffering from a
heart condition and kidney problems and has been admitted to
hospital. A previous bail appeal was rejected last month.
The Supreme Court removed 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.
In one of those cases, over the ownership of upmarket
properties in London, the high court granted him bail last
September, suspending a 10-year sentence until a final decision
on his appeal against the conviction.
The appeal process in both cases is continuing.
Sharif has termed the charges against him politically
motivated and accused the military and courts of working
together to end his political career and destabilise his
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party.