Islamabad, 28 June 2024, (GNP): Islamabad District and Sessions Court denied the petition of ex-prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi to delay their seven-year sentences in the Iddat case.
Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Afzal Majoka delivered the judgment today, which had been reserved on Tuesday.
Three days before the general elections, an Islamabad court had convicted the couple based on a petition filed by Bushra Bibi’s ex-husband, Khawar Fareed Maneka, who reported that they wed during the former first lady’s Iddat period.
Senior Civil Judge Qudratullah had sentenced the former prime minister and his spouse to seven years in jail and imposed a Rs500,000 fine on each.
The judgment came in the same week the couple had been handed 14-year sentences in the Toshakhana case, and Imran and his foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had been penalized with a 10-year sentence in the cipher case.
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The Toshakhana case punishment had been suspended in April while earlier this month, Imran and Qureshi had also been exonerated in the cipher case. Therefore, both Imran and Bushra now remain imprisoned at Adiala Jail in the Iddat case only.
Last week, Maneka’s counsel had repeatedly pursued an adjournment in the proceedings, but Judge Majoka ordered him to complete his arguments by June 25.
The court would then take up the main appeals against Imran and Bushra Bibi’s convictions, which it has been ordered by the IHC to do by July 13.
A plea filed by Bushra Bibi’s counsel seeking her release on bail and suspension is also pending before the IHC, with notices issued to the complainant and prosecution.
In the judgment, the judge cited older judgments and noted: “It can be said that a prisoner cannot claim bail as a matter of right even in bailable offenses under section 426 of CrPC.”
