ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Following are some details of the convictions and other cases facing jailed former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan.
A court in Pakistan acquitted Khan, 71, and his third wife on Saturday on charges of unlawful marriage, a day after his party won more seats in parliament, ramping up pressure on the country’s fragile government.
Khan was convicted in four cases ahead of a February national election and has been in jail since August last year, but all of the sentences against him have since been overturned or suspended.
ABETTING VIOLENCE
Khan is still facing trial on anti-terrorism charges in connection with violence against the military and other state installations that erupted following his brief arrest in May 2023. A number of his supporters have already been sentenced by military courts in the case.
A court last week cancelled Khan’s bail in the case, which means it could be the only grounds for keeping him behind bars following his acquittal on the unlawful marriage charges.
His party said on Saturday authorities have issued fresh arrest warrants for Khan in three different cases linked to the May 9 violence.
STATE SECRETS CASE
In June, Islamabad High Court overturned Khan’s conviction on charges of leaking state secrets.
He had been given a 10-year prison sentence on charges of making public a classified cable sent to Islamabad by Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington in 2022, in what is commonly known as the cipher case.
Khan has said the cable was evidence of a conspiracy by the Pakistan military and U.S. government to topple his government in 2022 after he visited Moscow just before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Washington and Pakistan’s military deny his accusation.
STATE GIFTS CASES
Khan was given jail sentences – one of 14 years and the other three years – in two cases pertaining to illegally acquiring and selling state gifts. Both sentences have been suspended by high courts while his appeals are heard.
Also known as the Toshakhana or state treasury case, Khan and his wife are charged with selling gifts worth more than 140 million rupees ($501,000) in state possession, which he received during his 2018-2022 premiership.
The gifts included diamond jewellery and seven watches, six of them Rolexes – the most expensive being valued at 85 million rupees ($305,000).
They have denied wrongdoing in the case.
UNLAWFUL MARRIAGE CASE
Saturday’s decision by an Islamabad court overturned a February ruling that found Khan and his wife, Bushra Khan, guilty of breaking Islamic law by failing to observe the required interval between Bibi’s divorce from a previous marriage and her 2018 marriage to Khan.
The trial court had sentenced them to seven years in prison.
($1 = 278.2500 Pakistani rupees)
(Reporting by Asif Shahzad; Editing by Helen Popper)
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