LHC orders to transfer Hanif Abbasi’s appeal against life sentence in ephedrine case to Lahore

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti on Monday accepted an application of Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) leader Raja Hanif Abbasi and ordered to transfer his appeal against sentence of life imprisonment in ephedrine quota case from Rawalpindi seat to principal seat at Lahore.

As the hearing commenced, counsel for Abbasi argued that the judges at the regional bench at Rawalpindi were not willing to hear the appeal.

On previous hearing, Justice Bhatti had observed that the appeal would be transferred to Lahore, if judges working at Rawalpindi seat recused themselves from hearing the same.

A special court for control of narcotics substance (CNS) had awarded life imprisonment along with a fine of Rs1 million to Abbasi days before the last general elections on July 21, 2018 in the ephedrine quota case.

Read more: IHC chief justice disposes of plea against Hanif Abbasi

The ANF had registered the case against Abbasi and others in 2012 under sections 9-C, 14 and 15 of the Control of Narcotics Substances (CNS) Act for misuse of 500kg quote of ephedrine allocated for his company.

Abbasi was contesting election against his main rival Awami Muslim League’s chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmad from NA-60, Rawalpindi, but he stood disqualified following the guilty verdict four days before the general elections.

The trial judge had announced the conviction around midnight to meet a deadline set by a single judge of the Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi bench. The LHC in a directive of June 11, 2018 had ordered the trial court to announce its verdict by July 21.

The appeal filed by Abbasi said the conviction was politically motivated as only one out of eight suspects of the case was convicted and that was the appellant. It said the appellant never misused the ephedrine quota but the trial court ignored basic legal questions before handing down the impinged sentence.

It argued that the ephedrine did not fall within the definition of scheduled drug or controlled narcotics. However, it said the trial judge relied upon a definition of ephedrine explored on Google.

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