A Pakistani court has quashed the seven-year convictions and sentences of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife and then immediately re-arrested them on charges of rioting and corruption.
The acquittal in a case related to the legality of the couple’s marriage in 2018 appeared to have removed the last hurdle on the road to Khan’s release, nearly a year after he was jailed, and his supporters began gathering near the prison where he was being held in the garrison city of Rawalpindi to greet him on his release.
But shortly after the court ruling, Khan was arrested again, in connection with last year’s unrest, his party said.
He added that he believed Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, was also being arrested again, in an ongoing corruption case.
A Pakistani court has quashed the seven-year convictions and sentences of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife, then immediately re-arrested them on charges of rioting and corruption.
Pakistan’s former prime minister and his wife Bushra Bibi (pictured together in 2023) have been sentenced to seven years in prison after a court ruled they broke a law requiring a woman to wait three months before remarrying.
The acquittal in a case related to the legality of the couple’s marriage in 2018 appeared to have removed the last hurdle on the path to Khan’s release, nearly a year after he was jailed, prompting his supporters to rally.
Authorities have registered multiple cases against Khan since 2022, when he was ousted from power by a vote of no confidence in parliament.
Khan has been involved in more than 150 legal cases, including cases of incitement to violence, since his initial arrest in May 2023.
Earlier this month, the United Nations human rights working group called for Khan’s immediate release, saying he had been detained “arbitrarily in violation of international law.”
Saturday’s acquittal relates to Khan’s marriage to Bibi, his third wife.
She was previously married to a man who claimed to have divorced her in November 2017, less than three months before she married Khan.
Islamic law, as maintained in Pakistan, requires a three-month waiting period before entering into a new marriage.
Bibi had said they divorced in August 2017 and the couple insisted during the trial that they did not violate the waiting period.
Supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, founder of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, celebrate after a court verdict overturned Khan’s illegal marriage conviction.
Earlier this month, the United Nations human rights working group called for Khan’s immediate release, saying he had been detained “arbitrarily in violation of international law.”
Following Khan’s arrest in May 2023, his supporters attacked military and government buildings in several parts of the country and set fire to a building housing the state broadcaster Radio Pakistan.
Following Khan’s arrest in May 2023, his supporters attacked military and government buildings in several parts of the country and set fire to a building housing the state broadcaster Radio Pakistan.
The violence only stopped when Khan was released by the Supreme Court. However, he was arrested again in early August 2023 after a court sentenced him to three years in prison for corruption.
Khan has been acquitted in several cases in recent months related to last year’s violence, but his bail was cancelled this week in connection with a pending case against him in the eastern city of Lahore.
Khan’s party said it plans to appeal to higher courts to secure his release on bail.
Bibi was reportedly the first Pakistani First Lady to wear a niqab.
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi arrive at a high court in Lahore on May 15, 2023. Khan has since been embroiled in more than 150 legal cases, including for inciting violence.
The latest development came a day after Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled that Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf party was wrongly denied at least 20 seats in parliament, in a significant blow to the country’s fragile ruling coalition.
Khan’s party in Pakistan had previously been excluded from a system that gives parties additional seats reserved for women and minorities in the National Assembly, or lower house of parliament.
While the verdict was a major political victory for Khan, it would not put his party in a position to topple the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who came to power after a Feb. 8 election that Khan’s allies say was rigged.