Captain (retd) Safdar was shifted to Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail on Monday following a hearing at an accountability court.
The son-in-law of deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif was handed a one-year jail term in the Avenfield properties case. Nawaz was sentenced to 10 years and daughter Maryam to seven years.
He was kept in NAB Islamabad office overnight and was shifted to Adiala Jail in the morning after his court appearance.
Safdar was arrested earlier on Saturday after he ‘surrendered’ to the authorities. Authorities brought the convicted son-in-law of the ousted prime minister through the judge’s door and media personnel were barred from the courtroom.
The media personnel were barred from entering the court due to security concerns, according to Deputy Prosecutor General NAB Sardar Muzaffar.
The judge has however said that the media will be allowed access during the Al-Azizia Steel Mills case hearing.
Three First Information Reports (FIRs) have been registered against the PML-N leaders from Rawalpindi for rallying with Safdar a day earlier. Other PML-N leaders include a senator and two National Assembly candidates.
Police in Rawalpindi has booked the entire top leadership of the PML-N in the district after they took out the rally and that protesters violated a ban on rallies under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and caused inconvenience for the public by blocking roads.
Since the speeches were on loudspeakers, PML-N leaders including Safdar have also been booked for violating the Amplifier Act.
Apart from Safdar, prominent PML-N leaders booked include Mohammad Hanif Abbasi, who is a candidate for NA-60, Chaudhry Danial, party candidate for NA-62, Senator Chaudhry Tanveer and Shakeel Awan. Several other party leaders have also been nominated along with hundreds of unnamed party workers.
Before his arrest, Safdar staged a rally in Rawalpindi and lashed out at the state institutions and asked supporters to stand up against “injustice”. The rally was attended by hundreds of local PML-N supporters and workers and leaders.
On July 7, three NAB teams raided various addresses in Mansehra, Safdar’s hometown, for arresting him but he managed to evade arrest.
NAB teams also raided his houses in Haripur and Abbotabad but remained unsuccessful in making the arrest.
On Sunday afternoon Capt Safdar appeared at the main election office of PML-N leader Hanif Abbasi on the Sixth Road in Rawalpindi and had announced to surrender before the authorities concerned.
After his arrest, NAB issued a statement expressing displeasure over Sunday’s turn of events.
“If he (Safdar) was a law-abiding citizen, he should have surrendered himself before NAB soon after the judgment was announcement against him. He is a convicted and corrupt person who is posing himself as a pious individual,” NAB’s statement read.
“NAB will start legal proceedings against all those who provided illegal shelter to a convicted person and (helped him evade his) arrest,” the bureau stated.
It requested PEMRA to provide footage of all TV channels to help the bureau identify all the culprits. The bureau accused Safdar of indulging in hate speech.
Safdar shifted to Adiala Jail after court appearance){kind=link}