The Islamabad High Court has acquitted Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan by overturning a lower court’s ruling.
The 71-year old former cricketer-turned-politician was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a lower court on charges of making public a classified cable sent to Islamabad by Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington in 2022.
Imran Khan has been in jail since August 2023.
Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Khan’s foreign minister during his tenure, was also acquitted of the charges.
It’s no secret that Khan has run afoul of the powerful military in Pakistan. He has accused the military of targeting him and his party.
The former Prime Minister maintains that this cable exposed a conspiracy orchestrated by the Pakistan military and the US government to destabilise his administration following his visit to Moscow just before Russia’s Ukraine invasion.
Both Washington and the Pakistani military have refuted these allegations.
Even though this verdict will come as a huge relief for Imran Khan, he will stay in jail for now.
Khan is serving a 7-year sentence over a case relating to his marriage to his third wife, Bushra Bibi, which was deemed as going against Islamic traditions.
So, what are the main cases against Imran Khan?
State Secrets Case
This is the case in which the conviction has been overturned. It was also known as the cypher case.
Unlawful Marriage Case
This is the case related to his third marriage to Bushra Bibi. Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi are serving a 7-year sentence after a lower court’s conviction.
They were charged with not completing the waiting period mandated by Islam, called Iddat, after Bibi divorced her previous husband.
Khan and Bushra Bibi’s nikaah took place in January 2018 in a secret ceremony.
Toshakhana Case
Imran Khan was handed down two sentences – one for three years and another for 14 years in two cases related to illegally acquiring and selling state gifts. Both these sentences have been suspended pending appeal.
The allegation against Imran Khan is that he and his wife sold state gifts worth $501,000 he had received while he was the Prime Minister. The gifts include diamond jewellery and high-end luxury watches.
Anti-Terrorism Charges
Khan faces a trial under anti-terrorism charges in connection with violence against the military that erupted following his brief arrest in May last year.
Khan and his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, were banned from contesting the February polls.
Even so, candidates backed by his party won most seats but didn’t have the numbers to form the government.
Shebaz Sharif-led alliance runs the coalition government in Pakistan.
The government has said it is considering appealing against the verdict in the Supreme Court.
