The Islamabad High Court (IHC) accepted on Wednesday ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif's the plea to hear his petition at the earliest, which challenges his conviction in the Al-Azizia reference.

A two-member bench of the IHC comprising Judge Amer Farooq and Judge Mohsin Akhtar Kiani took up Sharif's petition today. Accepting Sharif's plea, the bench directed the IHC registrar to set up a date for the hearing within 10 days, local media reported.

On Tuesday, Sharif's counsel Khawaja Haris had filed a supplementary appeal in the IHC. The plea maintained that Sharif's basic human rights were being violated, therefore a hearing on the appeal should be fixed at the earliest date possible.

Last week, Sharif had requested the high court to grant him bail till his appeal is heard in the IHC. He had challenged the accountability court's verdict in convicting him in the Al-Azizia reference.

Sharif is currently incarcerated at the Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore serving his seven-year jail term handed to him by accountability court Judge Arshad Malik on December 24.