–Punjab Prisons IG says PML-N leader moved to Lahore due to inadequate medical facilities at Attock jail
LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hanif Abbas was shifted from Attock jail to Kot Lakhpat prison in Lahore on Thursday.
Talking to media, Punjab Inspector General of Prisons Shahid Saleem Baig said: “Abbasi has been shifted due to his worsening health and a lack of an adequate hospital facility in Attock for his treatment.”
The official added that Abbasi suffered from a heart ailment during his time in Adiala jail due to which a stent had to be surgically placed in his artery. “He is being shifted as a precautionary measure because if his condition deteriorates, there is no adequate medical facility in Attock.”
On Sept 22, the incarcerated PML-N leader was shifted to Attock jail on the directives of Rawalpindi deputy inspector general after a photo surfaced of him with Nawaz Sharif and others inside Adiala jail before the former premier’s release.
THE CASE:
On July 22, Abbasi was sentenced to life imprisonment by a special anti-narcotics court in the ephedrine quota case.
Abbasi faced charges of misusing 500kg of the controlled chemical ephedrine, which he obtained for his company, Gray Pharmaceutical, in 2010. The court, in its verdict announced after six years, ruled that 363kg of ephedrine quota could be accounted, adding that Abbasi failed to provide evidence of the use of remaining quantity of the drug.
The court acquitted seven other accused in the case, giving them the benefit of doubt
On September 22, the convicted PML-N leader had been moved to Attock Jail following a controversy over a ‘leaked’ photo of him lounging with party supremo Nawaz Sharif in Adiala jail.
In the days leading up to the July 25 elections, an anti-narcotics court handed down life imprisonment to former MNA Abbasi in the eight-year-old ephedrine quota case.
