LAHORE, Pakistan: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday suspended the life sentence awarded to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hanif Abbasi in Ephedrine Quota Case.
Hanif Abbasi was awarded life-imprisonment by an Anti-Narcotics Court in Rawalpindi on July 21, 2018.
However today a two-member bench of the LHC headed by Justice Alia Neelum accepted Hanif Abbasi’s plea to suspend his sentence.
In his plea, Hanif Abbasi argued that the case against him was registered on political grounds, and the Anti-Narcotics Court ignored important legal points in his verdict. He also maintained that seven other accused in the case were acquitted.
لاہور ہائی کورٹ:مسلم لیگ ن کے رہنما حنیف عباسی کی سزا معطل
لاہور ہائی کورٹ کا حنیف عباسی کی ضمانت پر رہائی کا حکم
جسٹس عالیہ نیلم کی سربراہی میں دو رکنی بنچ نے فیصلہ سنایا pic.twitter.com/jcHMgfhfxZ— PTV News (@PTVNewsOfficial) April 11, 2019
The Ephedrine Quota Case was registered by the Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) against Hanif Abbasi along with his eight other accomplices in June 2012 under Section 9-C, 14 and 15 of the CNS Act.
The PML-N leader Hanif Abbasi was accused of misusing 500 kilograms controlled chemical ephedrine which he obtained for his Pharmaceutical Company ‘Gray Pharmaceutical’ in 2010. But instead of using it in medicine, he allegedly sold it to narcotics smugglers who used it to make ‘party drugs’.