PML-N leader Hanif Abbasi moved to hospital from jail

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Hanif Abbasi has been shifted to Sir Ganga Ram hospital from Camp Jail after his health worsened, ARY News reported on Tuesday.

The Control of Narcotics Substances (CNS) court in July last year handed down life imprisonment to Abbasi in the ephedrine quota case. He was found guilty of selling 500kg ephedrine illegally.

Earlier on March 2, Abbasi was moved to Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) due to heart problem.

Abbasi is suffering from heart disease for some time. In January this year the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader underwent a cardiac procedure at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology in Lahore.

Abbasi, who is serving life sentence awarded to him in the ephedrine quota case, had challenged his sentence in Lahore High Court and requested the bench to set aside his conviction and order release as the trial court had failed to appreciate facts of the case.

In July 2018, an anti-narcotics court had convicted Abbasi and sentenced to life in prison in the eight-year-old ephedrine quota case.

Earlier, this case was fixed at LHC Rawalpindi Bench but the judges recused themselves from hearing the appeal. The LHC chief justice ordered to fix the matter at Principal Seat while accepting an application filed by Abbasi’s counsel for this purpose.