Released, but for how long? An Islamabad court on Tuesday suspended the corruption conviction of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, one of his lawyers said. “The court has accepted our request, which amounts to suspending” the conviction, lawyer Gohar Khan told AFP. The court ordered his release on bail.
The lawyer, however, explained that he feared that the former Prime Minister, who is being prosecuted in more than 200 cases, would be immediately rearrested. “We have submitted a separate request to the court asking it to issue a decision prohibiting the authorities from arresting him in any other case,” he added. “If the authorities arrest him again (…), it will go against his legal rights,” he insisted.
Five years of ineligibility
Imran Khan, ousted from power by a motion of no confidence in April 2022, was sentenced on August 5 to three years in prison for corruption. He was immediately arrested and transferred to a prison in the city of Attock, about 60 kilometers from the capital Islamabad.
The Electoral Commission had excluded him a few days later for this reason from any participation in electoral polls for five years.