Pakistan: Nawaz Sharif sentenced to 10 years in jail, daughter Maryam to 7 in corruption case

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been sentenced to 10 years in prison in the Avenfield case. His daughter, Maryam Nawaz, will serve 7 years in jail.

After a series of deferments this morning, the Accountability Court in Pakistan gave out its verdict in the case. The matter had been deferred three times previously.

Maryam's husband, Safdar has been sentenced to a year.Sharif will also have to pay £8 million as fine, Maryam £2 million, Pakistan media reports.

Ex-PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and his family were on trial in three corruption cases filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The Sharifs had been charged for corruption in relation to Avenfield properties, Gulf Steel Mills and Al-Azizia Steel Mills.

The trial first commenced in September 2017. While Nawaz and his sons, Hussain and Hasan, were accused in all three references, Maryam Nawaz and her husband Safdar were accused in the Avenfield case.

Maryam and Safdar will now be barred from contesting the general elections slated to be conducted on July 25.

The Sharifs had filed an application on Thursday requesting the court to delay the verdict in the Avenfield reference and grant a seven-day exemption in the wake of Nawaz's wife, Begum Kulsoom Nawaz's deteriorating health.

The Accountability Court on Friday dismissed Sharif's plea for a delay in the announcement of the verdict in the Avenfield corruption case against his family.

Nawaz Sharif and Maryam are currently in London visiting Kulsoom Nawaz, who is suffering from cancer and is undergoing treatment there. They were supposed to return to Pakistan by June 27.