PESHAWAR, June 18: A two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court on Wednesday admitted to hearing a writ petition of former senator of PML(N), Jawed Iqbal Abbasi. The petitioner was seeking release on bail.

The bench comprising Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan and Justice Dost Muhammad Khan also issued notices to the federal government and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

The petitioner Jawed Abbasi was arrested by NAB on August 20, 2000 on the charges of possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. He was convicted by an accountability court on Nov 29, 2001 and sentenced to five years of imprisonment with a fine of Rs21.52 million. Advocate Abdul Samad Khan appeared for the petitioner and argued that the case had been unduly lingering for which he was not responsible.