The Islamabad High Court (IHC) is set to conduct a hearing at 1pm today (Wednesday) on PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz's appeal seeking annulment of her conviction in the Avenfield apartments reference.

       An accountability had on July 6, 2018 — 19 days before the general elections — convicted PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz and her husband retired Captain Mohammad Safdar in the Avenfield Apartment reference and handed them jail terms of 10, seven and one years, respectively, for owning assets beyond known sources of income.

       The Avenfield reference ─ which pertains to the purchase of four flats in Avenfield House, Park Lane, London ─ was among the three cases filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against the former premier and his children on the Supreme Court's orders in its landmark July 28 Panamagate verdict.

       Maryam was subsequently arrested by NAB and sent to Adiala jail. She filed an appeal against the verdict and was released from jail in September 2018 after the IHC granted her bail and suspended her prison sentence.

       On October 5, 2021, Maryam had filed a new appeal in the IHC seeking annulment of the verdict in the reference.

       Her latest application was filed "in consequence of certain extremely relevant, simple and clear-cut facts which have come to light after the pronouncement of judgement and sentence" in the case, according to a copy of the petition available with Dawn.com.

       In the application, Maryam stated that the entire proceedings that resulted in her conviction were a "classic example of outright violations of law and political engineering hitherto unheard of in the history of Pakistan".

       She also attached a reference to the speech made by former IHC judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui at the District Bar Association, Rawalpindi on July 21, 2018, wherein he had claimed that the country's top intelligence agency was involved in manipulating judicial proceedings.

       "The ISI officials had approached the chief justice asking him to make sure Nawaz and his daughter should not be bailed before the elections," reads the petition, quoting an excerpt from ex-judge Siddiqui's speech.

       In a subsequent hearing on Oct 13, her lawyer had argued that legal procedure was not followed in the reference, claiming that it was not based on any evidence and saw numerous mistakes being committed at the pre-trial stage.

       After hearing Advocate Irfan Qadir, the court had directed NAB to present its arguments at the next hearing. The case was adjourned until Nov 17 (today).

       The matter was recently again thrust into the limelight after former top judge of Gilgit-Baltistan, Rana Shamim, levelled allegations that former chief justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar had influenced judicial proceedings to prolong Nawaz and Maryam's detention following their conviction in the Avenfield reference.

       After the story was published, the PML-N cried foul and termed it another "vindication" for Maryam and Nawaz.

       However, the government dismissed the opposition's claims and Information minister Fawad Chaudhry said that instead of "fabricating silly stories and conspiracy theories", Nawaz should tell the people about the source of the money used to purchase the Avenfield Apartments.