Pakistan court acquitted former Prime Minister Imran Khan in three cases, but he will have to remain in jail
A Pakistan court on Monday acquitted jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan and other top leaders of his party in two cases related to sabotage during a protest following his arrest in 2022 in an alleged corruption case. The 71-year-old Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party founder has been in jail since August last year.
He has been serving jail term after being convicted in some of the nearly 200 cases slapped on him since his ouster from office in April 2022. The District and Sessions Court in Islamabad acquitted Khan, former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, former Communications Minister Murad Saeed and other PTI leaders in two cases of sabotage during the ‘Haqiqi Azadi’ march, the Express Tribune newspaper reported.
Imran Khan acquitted in government secrets case
A Pakistani high court on Monday acquitted Imran Khan of charges of leaking government secrets. However, his lawyer and his party have said that Khan will have to remain in jail for now due to his conviction in another case.
Imran Khan was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a lower court in 2022 for making public a secret diplomatic cable sent to Islamabad by Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington. Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who was Khan’s foreign minister during his tenure from 2018-2022, was also acquitted of the charges.
“Thank God the conviction was overturned. However, despite being acquitted, Khan will remain in jail as he has also been convicted in another case related to marrying his third wife Bushra Khan in violation of Islamic traditions,” Naeem Panjutha, legal affairs spokesperson for Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, said in a post on ‘X’.
What is the ‘Haqiqi Azadi’ case?
In May 2022, former cricketer-turned-politician Khan had launched a march from Lahore to Islamabad to topple the coalition government of Shehbaz Sharif, which came to power after he was removed as prime minister following a no-confidence motion. The rally was part of the PTI’s struggle to achieve ‘real independence’ and free the nation from the ‘slavery’ of the ‘US-backed’ coalition government.
Khan had accused the coalition government of coming to power through a ‘US-backed conspiracy’. At that time, Islamabad police had registered separate cases against 150 people, including Khan, Qureshi and other party leaders, over allegations of arson and vandalism in the federal capital.
Earlier this month, an Islamabad judicial magistrate also acquitted Khan in two cases of vandalism during his party’s two long marches in 2022. Judicial Magistrate Shaista Kundi heard petitions filed by the former prime minister in cases registered at Islamabad’s Lohi Bhair and Sehla police stations and a case related to his appearance in court.
