The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday rejected a petition seeking suspension of the sentence of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the Al Azizia reference case on medical grounds. Nawaz had filed a plea in IHC requesting the court to grant him bail on medical grounds. In a previous hearing, Nawaz’s counsel had argued before the court that his client was suffering from multiple ailments and could only be treated abroad for which he should be granted bail. The lawyer, Khawaja Haris, feared for Sharif’s life citing his health problems including diabetes, blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. He further informed the court that the former prime minister was under great mental stress because of his ailments. On Dec 24, 2018, accountability court Judge Mohammad Arshad Malik had convicted Sharif in the reference and awarded him seven years imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs1.5 billion and $25 million. The petition had requested the court to allow Nawaz to get medical treatment abroad, claiming that the former PM was suffering from acute anxiety and depression that could lead to ‘sudden death’. It said the medical professionals seeing the former premier in Pakistan recommended that he should be treated by his regular practitioners in the United Kingdom. It also said that there was a difference between the apex court’s March 26 oral order and the written order. However, a three-judge special bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Asif Saeed Khosa and comprising Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Justice Yahya Afridi, dismissed the petition after a after 86-minute-long hearing. Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani of the IHC read out the court’s orders.