Verdict on Imran-Bushra Iddat case due today

ISLAMABAD: All eyes are on an Islamabad local court, which is due to announce its verdict on the pleas filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi seeking suspension of their sentences in the iddat case today (Thursday), which may end the former prime minister’s imprisonment. The district court had sentenced the PTI founder and Bushra each to seven years in prison in February earlier this year after a trial court found their nikah to be fraudulent after Khawar Maneka, Bushra’s ex-husband, moved the court against the couple’s marriage.

The complainant stressed that the marriage was solemnised during Bushra’s iddat. The couple had then filed various appeals, including ones against their conviction and those seeking suspension of their sentences. Trial court Judge Shahrukh Arjumand had reserved the verdict on their appeals challenging their conviction on May 23. However, in the light of Maneka’s repeated expression of no-confidence, the Islamabad High Court (IHC), on Judge Arujmand’s request, had then transferred the case to the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majuka. The district and sessions court on June 25 reserved its verdict on pleas against Khan and Bushra’s conviction, after directives from the IHC to decide the matter of suspension of sentences within 10 days. The court had also given one month for the decision on the petition filed by the couple against their conviction.

Meanwhile, Bushra had sought a decision on her plea filed in the sessions court seeking suspension of sentence. The reserved verdict will be announced on June 27 (Thursday) at 3pm while the hearing on the couple’s pleas seeking annulment of their conviction in the case will be resumed on July 2.