ISLAMABAD – Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz,and son-in-law retired Captain Mohammad Safdar challenged their convictionsby an accountability court in the Avenfield corruption reference in theIslamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday.

The court on July 6 had sentenced Nawaz to 10 years in prison for owningassets beyond known income, along with a fine of £8 million. Maryam wasgiven seven years of jail time and slapped with a fine of £2 million, asthe court found her guilty of being “instrumental in concealment of theproperties of her father”. Capt Safdar was handed one year in jail forfailure to cooperate with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), and foraiding and abetting Nawaz and Maryam.

Seven separate appeals were filed by the three convicts’ lawyers ─ three onbehalf of Nawaz, and two each on behalf of Maryam and Safdar ─ pertainingto the corruption references against them.

Advocate Khawaja Haris filed the appeals on behalf of Nawaz; one urging theIHC to set aside the accountability court’s verdict in the Avenfieldreference, another to suspend the said verdict until the IHC adjudicated onthe main appeals, and a third requesting the court to transfer AlAzizya andFlagship reference against Nawaz from the court of accountability judgeMohammad Bashir to another accountability court in Islamabad.

Amjad Pervaiz filed two appeals each on behalf of Maryam and Safdar. One ofthe petitions urged the IHC to set aside the accountability court’s verdictin the Avenfield corruption reference, while the second requested thesuspension of the NAB court’s verdict until the IHC adjudicates on theappeals.