The acquittal came after a different appeals court upheld the couple’s convictions, but Khan’s lawyers say he will not be released.
A Pakistani court has acquitted former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife of illegal marriage charges, his political party and lawyers said.
Khan and his wife, Bushra Khan (also known as Bushra Bibi), were sentenced to seven years in prison in a court ruling at the time, days before Pakistan’s February elections, that their 2018 marriage violated Islamic law.
In June The court dismissed their petition The February sentence should be suspended.
However, on Saturday, an Islamabad court announced that “the appeals of both Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi will be accepted.”
A spokesman for Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said the charges had been “dropped”, while Khan’s lawyer, Naeem Panjuta, posted on X that the couple were “innocent”.
Khan remains in prison after a court revoked his bail this week on charges he incited riots by his supporters in May 2023. His wife is also jailed and it is unclear when she will be released.
“Despite today’s acquittal, he will not be released. [Saturday]” his lawyer Intazar Hussein Panjuta told Al Jazeera.
An anti-terrorism court in Lahore this week approved Khan’s arrest in a case linked to last year’s riots, the party’s lawyers said.
Despite his incarceration at the time, the court on Tuesday denied him bail as investigations into his role in the unrest continue.
“At present, there is no case that should keep Khan in prison,” PTI senior leader Zulfi Bukhari told Al Jazeera.
As for his wife, Buhari said, “This illegal marriage case is the only thing keeping her in prison and with this acquittal she should be released immediately today and not tomorrow.”
Early this month A UN panel of experts found Khan’s detention arbitrary “It had no legal basis and appears to be intended to disqualify him from running for public office,” he said.
“Therefore, from the outset, this prosecution has reportedly had no legal basis and has been used for political purposes,” it said, calling for his immediate release after nearly a year incarceration.
Candidates loyal to Khan won the most seats in the general election but were blocked from taking power by a military-backed coalition of rival parties.
The PTI scored a major legal victory on Friday with the Supreme Court’s ruling. be eligible for a reserved seat assignment The loss of seats in both parliament and state assemblies was a major setback for the coalition government.
Khan served as prime minister from 2018 to 2022, when he was removed by a vote of no confidence after clashing with the military, which has a strong influence in civilian politics.
As an oppositionist, he waged a rebellious campaign against the most senior generals, accusing them of wounding him in an assassination attempt.
But the former cricketer’s campaign for reinstatement has been hampered by numerous lawsuits which analysts say are likely to have been filed at the behest of the military.
Khan was first arrested briefly in May 2023.This triggered unrest across the country by PTI supporters, some of whom targeted military installations.
The government and military saw the attack as justification for a wholesale crackdown on the PTI, which resulted in the devastation of its leadership through arrests and defections.
Surviving the Repression
The PTI candidate was forced to run as an independent in the February 8 election, which has been postponed multiple times amid political turmoil.
Khan was arrested and convicted on corruption charges in August 2023. This resulted in him being barred from running for public office and he was confined to solitary confinement in Adiala Prison, south of the capital, Islamabad.
Nevertheless, candidates loyal to the PTI won more seats than any other party.
Nevertheless, they were prevented from taking power by a broad coalition of parties perceived to be more amenable to the military’s influence.
The polling day itself was marred by allegations of vote-rigging amid a nationwide mobile internet shutdown allegedly engineered by Islamabad over security concerns.
