ISLAMABAD: A district and sessions court in Islamabad Thursday rejected the pleas seeking suspension of the sentence handed down to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi in the iddat case, dampening hopes of the former ruling party of their leader’s release.
The PTI founder and Bushra were each sentenced to seven years in prison in February earlier this year after a trial court found their nikah to be fraudulent as Khawar Maneka, Bushra’s ex-husband, moved the court against the couple’s marriage.
The court’s verdict, announced by Additional Sessions Judge Afzal Majoka, comes following the hearing on appeals against the sentence.
The case first came to surface when a petitioner, Muhammad Hanif, had claimed that Bushra Bibi was divorced by her former husband in November 2017 and married Khan on January 1, 2018, despite the fact that her iddat period — the time a woman goes into isolation after her husband dies or divorces her — had not ended, “which is against the Sharia and Muslim norms.”
A district and sessions court in Islamabad then rejected the plea. The court termed the petition “inadmissible” and said that it fell outside its jurisdiction, prior to which the petitioner withdrew his plea.
Later, Bushra’s former husband Khawar Maneka had filed a complaint against the “un-Islamic marriage” of Khan and Bushra in the court of Civil Judge Qudratullah on November 25, 2023, under the under Sections 34, 496, 496-B of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The couple were indicted in the iddat case on January 16, 2024. After a 14-hour hearing in the Adiala jail, the trial court reserved its verdict on February 2 and handed out seven years imprisonment each to Imran and Bushra on February 3.
The case was also earlier heard by Sessions Judge Shahrukh Arjumand against whom Maneka had indicated a lack of confidence, seeking transfer of the case to the court of Judge Majoka by the Islamabad High Court.
The former first couple was represented by their lawyers Salman Akram Raja, Salman Safdar and Usman Gill in the case. Meanwhile, Advocate Zahid Asif argued on behalf of Maneka, opposing the appeals against the suspension of the sentence.
More to follow…
