The 14-year sentences imposed on former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi in the Toshakhana reference were suspended by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday.
Days before the general elections, on January 31, an accountability court in Islamabad condemned the two. The verdict imposed a 10-year ban on Imran and Bushra from holding public office along with a fine of Rs. 787 million on each of them.
A day later, in a case pertaining to their marriage during the latter’s Iddat period, both received sentences of seven years in prison. Before this, Imran and his foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had already been given 10-year prison terms for violating state secrets by a special court created under the Official Secrets Act.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed a new reference against the two at an accountability court in December, citing them for keeping a set of jewelry that they had received from the crown prince of Saudi Arabia despite its low value assessment.
An accountability court in Islamabad indicted both in the reference the following month. In the referral, the anti-graft watchdog had said that Imran and his spouse had accepted 108 gifts from various foreign dignitaries and leaders of state when he served as prime minister.
The appeals against their conviction were accepted by the IHC on February 27. By March 7, records pertaining to the trial court proceedings had been requisitioned.
Additionally, the IHC division bench had taken up applications asking for their sentences to be suspended until the resolution of the primary appeals against their conviction. The bench initially dismissed the registrar’s office’s objections to the petitions.
The IHC had questioned earlier in March if Imran had been consulted by the authorities prior to turning his Bani Gala home into a makeshift jail for Bushra Bibi.
The appeal against the sentence was taken up today by a division bench made up of Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq.
The former premier and his spouse were represented by Barrister Ali Zafar, with NAB prosecutor Amjad Pervaiz also in attendance.
Ruling from the accountability court
Judge Muhammad Bashir had already instructed Imran and his spouse to record their statements in accordance with Section 342 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which deals with the power to interrogate the accused, and had closed the prosecution’s right to cross-examine the witnesses.
Imran was unable to record Bushra Bibi’s statement in the case. The judge denied Imran’s defense team’s request for the court to allow cross-examination to resume during that session.
Although his wife had not yet arrived in court, the PTI founder had been there during the session where the sentence was given.
After the verdict was announced, Bushra went to Adiala Jail, where the NAB team was waiting, in accordance with the court’s orders to turn himself in to the police. She had since been arrested by the anti-graft watchdog.
But when it was announced late at night that it was a sub-jail, she was transferred to Imran’s Bani Gala house.
She and her husband rejected filing any paperwork to designate the property as a sub-jail, therefore the move to the residence has been discussed for weeks.
The management of Adiala Jail had argued against her being sent back to the prison in a previous hearing, saying that the former first lady’s security was at risk due to overcrowding.
