Former Prime Minister and famous cricketer Imran Khan will appear before the Supreme Court in the capital, Islamabad, again, after his release on Friday, following serious popular unrest that was described as unprecedented since the founding of the state.
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan is due to appear in court on Monday, after his brief detention last week sparked riots across the country. Khan, who is prosecuted in dozens of judicial files, and who has been waging a campaign of accusations against the powerful Pakistani army since his removal from power, was released on bail on Friday after the Supreme Court considered that his arrest was illegal.
The arrest of Khan, a former cricket star who later became involved in politics and enjoys great popularity, sparked violent confrontations in several Pakistani cities between his supporters and the security forces. Several official departments were set on fire, roads were cut off, and army facilities were damaged.
At least nine people were killed during these confrontations, according to hospitals and the police. Hundreds of police officers were injured, and more than four thousand people were arrested, most of them in the provinces of Punjab in the east of the country and its capital, Lahore, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the northwest, according to the authorities.
On Monday, Khan is scheduled to appear before a court in Lahore (east) to respond to accusations against him of planning acts of violence that followed his arrest, according to one of his lawyers. “Khan will appear in court today for cases registered against him relating to the events from May 9 to May 12,” Attorney Attorney Hussain Pangutha told AFP.
Khan confirmed Monday in a tweet on Twitter that he expects to be arrested again.
“By using the pretext of violence when I was in prison, they are playing the role of judge, jury and executioner,” he said, referring to the current government. Khan considers that he is being subjected to judicial harassment at the push of the government and the army to prevent his return to power.
A court in Islamabad released him on Friday, after the Supreme Court overturned his arrest warrant. Khan, 70, was granted conditional release in a number of other cases. The court decided that he should not be arrested again before Monday in any of the ten other cases he is pursuing, or in the case of acts of violence committed by his supporters this week.
