The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has decided to hear PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif’s appeal against his conviction in the Al-Azizia reference on its merits. The decision was made by a division bench comprising IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb. This means that the court will be considering the actual substance of the case, including the charge, defence, weight of evidence, and other relevant factors. The Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference pertains to a case in which Sharif was sentenced to seven years in jail and fined Rs1.5 billion and US$25 million. The IHC had declared him a proclaimed offender in the case in December 2020. After filing two separate applications seeking restoration of his appeals against the conviction in reference, the IHC revived Nawaz’s appeals in the two references on October 24. The hearing began with Nawaz and senior PML-N leaders Ishaq Dar, Azam Nazeer Tarar and others present at IHC. Representing PML-N, lawyer Amjad Pervaiz highlighted that Nawaz’s appeal was against the December 2018 verdict in the Al-Azizia reference and the case was related to the Panama Papers. The hearing is ongoing.