ISLAMABAD (DNA) – The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday will hear an appeal filed by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif against his conviction in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference case.

A two-member division bench comprising of Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani is scheduled to hear the appeal today.

Importantly, the same bench will hear an application submitted by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for increasing Sharif’s jail term.

It is pertinent to mention hear that former accountability court judge Arshad Malik had convicted ousted premier Sharif in the Al-Azizia corruption reference and sentenced him to a seven-year imprisonment. He, however, had acquitted him in a second reference related to Flagship Investments.

Former judge Malik was suspended last month over the video leak controversy, and later was appointed as an officer on special duty (OSD) at the Lahore Sessions Court.

Subsequently, the affidavit given after the release of the video of the judge was also made part of Sharif’s appeal.

The IHC on July 12 had removed the judge from his post amid a controversy surrounding a leaked videotape showing his purported confession that he had been “pressurised and blackmailed” to convict ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the Al-Azizia corruption reference.