Iddat case: Court rejects Imran Khan, Bushra Bibi's pleas to suspend sentence

ISLAMABAD: In a major upset for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi, a district and sessions court in Islamabad Thursday rejected their pleas seeking suspension of sentences in the iddat case.

PTI founder and Bushra were each sentenced to seven years in prison in February earlier this year after a trial court found their nikah to be fraudulent as Khawar Maneka, Bushra's ex-husband, moved the court against the couple's marriage.

Additional Sessions Judge Afzal Majoka announced the verdict on the appeals against the sentence today, which was reserved on June 25.

Meanwhile, the hearing on the main plea challenging the conviction in the case is set to take place on July 2.

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 also blocked the road. The protesters include women, who chanted slogans in favour of the PTI founder.

Meanwhile, heavy police deployment was also present outside the court.

Khan, the deposed prime minister who was ousted from power via the opposition's no-confidence motion in April 2022, has been facing a slew of charges ranging from corruption to terrorism since his removal as the premier.

He has been behind bars since August last year after he was sentenced in the Toshakhana case and subsequently sentenced in other cases ahead of the February 8 elections.

Despite securing relief in other cases including £190 million reference and Toshakhana, and acquittal in the cipher case earlier this month, the former premier remains behind bars due to his conviction in the iddat case.

Khan has also been granted bail in the May 9 cases registered in Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Faisalabad. On the other hand, the Federal Investigation Agency also twice interrogated him in the jail regarding an anti-state post shared on X, formerly Twitter. There is, however, no new case against the PTI founder.

What is the iddat case?

The case first came to the 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.

The case was also earlier heard by Sessions Judge Shahrukh Arjumand against whom Maneka had indicated a lack of confidence, seeking transfer of the case to the court of Judge Majoka by the Islamabad High Court.

The former first couple was represented by their lawyers Salman Akram Raja, Salman Safdar and Usman Gill in the case. Meanwhile, Advocate Zahid Asif argued on behalf of Maneka, opposing the appeals against the suspension of the sentence.

More to follow...