Jailed PML-N leader Hanif Abbasi shifted to hospital from jail

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Hanif Abbasi has been shifted to hospital from Camp Jail due to cardiac problem, citing sources ARY News reported on Saturday.

According to sources, Abbasi has been transferred to Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) due to heart problem.

Hanif Abbasi, a former MNA of PML-N complained about heart pain at Camp Jail here and was shifted to the PIC, sources said.

The jail doctors examined him and then recommended shifting him to the PIC.

Abbasi is suffering from heart disease for some time. In January this year Hanif Abbasi underwent a cardiac procedure at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology in Lahore.

The PIC doctors inserted a stent and shifted him to the cardiac care unit (CCU) for a couple of days.

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.

Abbasi 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.