The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday rejected petitions of incarcerated former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his spouse, Bushra, seeking the suspension of their sentences in the £190 million corruption case, observing it was infructuous, as their main appeals have been fixed for hearing.
A two-member bench headed by Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar will take up the appeals on May 7, read the ruling, so the suspension applications no longer apply.
In the last hearing, on April 30, Justice Dogar had emphasized that the best course would be an early disposal of the main appeal.
Khan has been imprisoned since Aug. 5, 2023. He is currently serving a 14-year sentence at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail for the £190m case. Bushra, meanwhile, is serving a seven-year term in the same case. The case alleges the couple obtained billions of rupees and hundreds of kanals of land from Bahria Town in exchange for legalizing Rs. 50 billion identified and returned to the country by the United Kingdom during the PTI government.
Aleema’s Call
Separately, Khan’s sister Aleema has once again “appealed to all party office holders, senior leadership, MNAs, MPAs, and senators to come to the Adiala Jail this Tuesday to build pressure on the government” for access to him.
In a posting on X, Aleema reiterated that access to Khan would not be restored without public pressure. Additionally, she reiterated the family’s demand for Khan’s transfer to Islamabad’s Shifa International Hospital for “proper medical examination and treatment, in the presence of specialists, his personal doctor, and family.” She further claimed the protest would pressure IHC CJ Dogar to take up the couple’s petitions for their release.
“Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi are being held in solitary confinement, one of the harshest forms of treatment in violation of Pakistani law and international human rights standards,” she alleged in her post.