A Pakistani court has let stand the seven-year prison sentences given to former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi for what authorities say is the couple’s “illicit marriage.”
The decision by a district and sessions court in the capital, Islamabad, Thursday deals a blow to Khan’s hopes of walking free as this is the only case now keeping the former leader behind bars.
Khan has been in a high security prison near Islamabad since August 5 last year on a long list of charges. His wife has been serving her sentence in the same prison since May after initially being placed under house arrest.
In a post on social media platform X, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, decried the decision as “absolutely ridiculous.”
“Every single individual responsible for fabricating and carrying this case will go down in the dirtiest, darkest alleys of history,” a party said.
In a statement to the media the party said it would challenge the verdict.
Many legal experts have also called the “illicit marriage” case frivolous.
Case history
Just days before Pakistanis headed to the polls in early February, a court sentenced Khan and his wife to seven years in prison each for a marriage law violation in 2018, on a petition filed by Bibi’s ex-husband. The court also fined the 71-year-old former prime minister and his wife $1,800 each.
Bibi was accused of not completing the waiting period mandated by Islam, called “iddat,” after divorcing her previous husband and marrying Khan in 2018.
The former first lady rejected the charges as baseless and politically motivated to malign her husband.
Prison history
Since his removal from power in Aril 2022 in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence, Khan has faced a long list of charges which he has rejected as an attempt by the country's military to keep him out of the political arena - a charge the powerful institution denies.
Khan's first and brief arrest on May 9 of last year in a land bribery case led to widespread protests and rioting, including attacks by supporters on government and military installations. Khan was granted bail in that case.
Khan was again arrested on August 5 on corruption charges. He was accused of illegally selling state gifts received while in office between August 2018 and April 2022.
Although the three-year prison sentence handed down in that case was suspended weeks later, Khan remained under arrest as proceedings in other cases involving charges such as corruption, rioting, vandalism, and treason continued inside prison walls.
On January 30 of this year, a special lower court established under the Official Secrets Act, sentenced Khan to a decade behind bars for leaking state secrets. The Islamabad High Court overturned that conviction earlier this month.
On January 31, a federal anti-graft court sentenced Khan and Bibi to 14 years in prison on corruption charges, again related to illegally retaining and selling state gifts. The Islamabad High Court suspended that sentence in April.
According to PTI, Khan has been acquitted or granted bail in 18 cases in the last several months.
While the petitions to seek suspension of sentence in the “illicit marriage” case have been rejected, according to PTI, a hearing on petitions challenging the conviction is scheduled for July 2.
