ISLAMABAD-The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Friday granted post-arrest bail to accused Faisal Shaheen being tried for his involvement in making a video to blackmail accountability court judge Arshad Malik who convicted former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the Al-Azizia reference. 
The division bench of IHC headed by Justice Aamer Farooq announced the verdict which it had reserved earlier after hearing the arguments of both the sides on the bail petition of accused Faisal Shaheen in the judge video scandal case. 
Accepting his bail plea, the court directed him to submit surety bonds worth Rs100,000 for his release.  The deputy attorney general adopted the stance that four accused have already been granted bail in this matter and he is not opposing the current bail petition too. He said that the challan has been submitted but the trial was not started yet. 
The petitioner’s lawyer said that his client has been in jail for one year while the other accused have been granted bail. 
Faisal Shaheen, the man who filmed former accountability court judge Arshad Malik with PML-N’s Nasir Butt had approached the IHC seeking bail in the case. In his petition, he said that Butt lied to him about the video. He added that Butt told him that the video would be of a business dealing and asked him to shoot it. 
He stated that other people involved in the case such as PML-N leaders Maryam Nawaz and Shehbaz Sharif were not even investigated in the case. He further said that all people named in the case, including prime suspect Tariq, have been granted bail. Shaheen said that he has been at Adiala Jail since October 3, 2019. 
Judge Arshad Malik, who convicted former premier Nawaz Sharif in December 2018 in a corruption case, was seen in the video confessing before Butt – a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) worker – that he was forced into sentencing Nawaz. The video was unveiled by the PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz. 
Later, on the complaint of the judge, the police lodged an FIR against various accused including Butt and arrested them including Faisal Shaheen. 
Judge Malik rebutted the allegations and issued a press release the following day and submitted an affidavit before the IHC that had been made part of court record. 
In the affidavit, judge Malik alleged that at a social gathering attended by Nasir Janjua and Maher Ghulam Jilani, the former took him aside and implored him to give verdict of acquittal in both the references. The judge also claimed that he was again approached by both accused Janjua and Jilani who offered him Euros equivalent to Rs100 million telling him that the foreign currency worth Rs20 million was readily available in their vehicle outside. But the offer had been made prior to his decision on the references, the judge claimed.
The affidavit further alleged that Nasir Butt had met the judge and threatened him regarding the video leak by accused Janjua. While the judge at that time showed his ignorance about any such video, Butt told him that it would be shown to him soon.