ISLAMABAD: A district and sessions court in Islamabad Thursday rejected the pleas seeking suspension of the sentence handed down to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi in the iddat case.
The verdict drew strong condemnation from the PTI, which called it “absolutely ridiculous”, and its leaders — Supporters who anticipated Imran’s release today organized a demonstration outside Adiala jail, where the court was situated to safeguard the former prime minister’s security.
Further, Sessions Judge Afzal Majoka announced the verdict today, reserved on Tuesday, with the hearing on the central plea related to the annulment of their conviction set to take place on July 2.
In February of this year, the founder of PTI and Bushra were both sentenced to seven years in prison by a trial court that deemed their marriage fraudulent, following a legal challenge from Khawar Maneka, Bushra’s former husband.
In the 10-page order, the court mentioned that there was no reason to suspend the sentence.
“…[there is] no ground for suspension of [the] sentence is available to both the petitioners. Accordingly, both the petitions under section 426 Cr.PC are dismissed,” it said.
In response to the verdict issued by the lower court, PTI Secretary General Omar Ayub Khan said: “[We] will challenge the verdict in the high court immediately.”
Following the announcement, PTI workers began protesting outside the district and sessions court and have also blocked the road. The protestors include women, who are chanting slogans in favour of the PTI founder.
Meanwhile, heavy police deployment is present outside the court.
Khan, who is currently incarcerated at the Adaila jail in Rawalpindi, was likely to be released if the verdict was in his favour. The PTI founder remains acquitted in the Toshakhana and cipher cases, respectively, while his guarantee in the £190m pounds has also been approved.
Khan has been released on bail for cases filed on May 9 in Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Faisalabad. Additionally, the Federal Investigation Agency questioned him twice in jail concerning a post deemed anti-state that was shared on X, previously known as Twitter. There are no new charges against the PTI founder at this time.
The case
The case first came to surface when a petitioner, Muhammad Hanif, had claimed that Bushra Bibi was divorced by her former husband in November 2017 and married Khan on January 1, 2018, despite the fact that her iddat period — the time a woman goes into isolation after her husband dies or divorces her — had not ended, “which is against the Sharia and Muslim norms.”
A district and sessions court in Islamabad then rejected the plea. The court termed the petition “inadmissible” and said that it fell outside its jurisdiction, prior to which the petitioner withdrew his plea.
Later, Bushra’s former husband Khawar Maneka had filed a complaint against the “un-Islamic marriage” of Khan and Bushra in the court of Civil Judge Qudratullah on November 25, 2023, under the under Sections 34, 496, 496-B of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The couple were indicted in the iddat case on January 16, 2024. After a 14-hour hearing in the Adiala jail, the trial court reserved its verdict on February 2 and handed out seven years imprisonment each to Imran and Bushra on February 3.
Maneka had previously expressed distrust in Sessions Judge Shahrukh Arjumand, prompting her request to transfer the case to Judge Majoka’s court at the Islamabad High Court.
Source: GEO
