Former judge Arshad Malik, who convicted Nawaz Sharif in 2018, dies of COVID-19

Islamabad [Pakistan], December 4 : Former accountability judge Arshad Malik has passed away in Islamabad after contracting COVID-19, his family informed on Friday.
The news of Malik’s demise was confirmed by his brother-in-law Waheed Javed. Javed said that Malik’s condition was critical for the past two days and he had been placed on the ventilator, reported Dawn.
Javed further added that the former judge was under treatment at Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad.
Malik was noted for convicting former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference in December 2018, sentencing him to seven years in jail.
Last year, Sharif’s daughter Maryam, along with two senior PML-N leaders Shehbaz Sharif and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, had released a video purportedly showing judge Malik claiming that there was a lack of evidence against Sharif in the Al-Azizia case.
Malik denied allegations and asserted that Maryam tried to bribe him during the former premier’s trial. He said that Sharif’s party was trying to defame him and termed the video was “fake and fallacious”, Geo News reported.
In July 2019, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday asked the law ministry to remove Accountability Judge Arshad Malik from his post, days after his video got leaked in which he admits that he was “pressurised and blackmailed” to convict Sharif.
After a year-long inquiry, the Lahore High Court (LHC) administration committee had removed Malik from service on charges of misconduct relating to the video scandal, reported Dawn.
Malik is survived by two sons and two daughters.