What facilities Nawaz, Maryam will exactly get in jail?

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz, convicted in the Avenfield apartments case, are yet to reach Pakistan, but reports of their potential arrest upon returning home has already become much-debated discourse in the national circles.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has decided to take into custody Nawaz and Maryam and move them via helicopter to Adiala Jail as they land at the Lahore airport on July 13.

Once reaching the Adiala Jail, what jail class the duo will be put in? Well, the classification of jail category is different for both.

Read: NAB to shift Nawaz, Maryam to Adiala Jail through helicopter

According to a report, Mr Sharif will be sent to a jail of the ‘Better Class’ category for being a former parliamentarian, but Maryam doesn’t have this virtue. She can avail the facility only if she proves that she has paid at least Rs600,000 as annual income tax.

She will be required to submit an application and the plea will go through formal process of scrutiny before being granted a particular jail category.

The classification of jails in Punjab was changed to ‘Better Class’ and ‘Ordinary Class’ through an amendment to the Punjab Jails Rules following the Lahore High Court orders some years ago.

Former PM Sharif can get a Better Class jail if he submits an application for that category. While Maryam will need to prove she is annual income tax payer of Rs 600,000 because she is neither a former nor serving gazetted military or civil officer.

Facilities in the Better Class jail include access to books and newspapers, a 21-inch television, a table and a chair, a mattress, personal bedding and clothing. And incarcerated persons will have to pay for all these facilities.

On July 6, the accountability court sentenced former premier Nawaz Sharif to a total of 10 years in prison and directed him to pay a fine of £8 million after finding him guilty on different charges in the Avenfield properties case.

Judge Muhammad Bashir found Mr. Sharif guilty of accumulating assets beyond his known sources of income.

Also read: Protesters attempt to break into Nawaz Sharif’s London flats

He handed out seven-year imprisonment to the former premier’s daughter Maryam Nawaz and a fine of £2 million. She has been awarded an additional one year’s imprisonment on charges of using Calibri font to fabricate Avenfield properties trust deeds.

Whereas, her husband Captain retired Safdar has been awarded one year’s jail term.

Moreover, the judge ordered confiscation of the Sharif family’s London properties in question in the case.