Pak Court Grants ‘Critically Unwell’ Nawaz Sharif 8-Week Bail

Sharif was admitted to the hospital from the anti-graft body’s custody after his platelet count dropped.

File image of former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. 

(Photo: AP)

A Pakistani court on Tuesday, 29 October, suspended the sentence of former premier Nawaz Sharif for eight weeks in a corruption case, as his health deteriorated rapidly.

Sharif is "fighting for life" after a drastic drop in his blood platelet count, his personal doctor said earlier, days after Pakistan's former prime minister was rushed from prison to a hospital.

Sharif, 69, was admitted to the Services Hospital from the anti-graft body’s custody after his platelets dropped to a critically low level.

Sharif's personal physician, Dr Adnan Khan, posted on Twitter that he was “critically unwell”.

The three-time prime minister on Saturday also suffered angina attack while undergoing treatment. Angina is a type of chest pain caused by reduced blood flow to the heart.

Khan said that the poor blood sugar and blood pressure had also taken a toll on the former prime minister’s health.

Hospital sources said Sharif had lost close to seven kilos since he had been admitted to the hospital. They added that before being admitted, his weight was 107 kilos, which went down to 100 kilos.

Sharif was in Kot Lakhpat jail, but early this month, was sent to the custody of National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which is probing the Sharif family in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case.

On 24 December 2018, an accountability court had sentenced Sharif to seven years in prison in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption case and acquitted him in the Flagship case.

(This story has been edited for clarity.)