Pakistan: Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi’s 14-year sentence in the Toshakhana case is suspended by the Islamabad High Court

Islamabad: According to Dawn, the former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi’s 14-year sentences in relation to the Toshakhana fraud case were postponed on Monday by the Islamabad High Court (IHC). Days before the general elections, on January 31, an accountability court condemned the pair. They were also given a seven-year term in a case involving an “un-Islamic” marriage.

In December of last year, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed a complaint against Imran and his spouse for keeping a set of jewels that they had acquired from the Saudi crown prince despite their low worth. The ruling was rendered eight days before the general elections on February 8, which Imran’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is running in the midst of a crackdown by the government and without an electoral symbol.

Judge Mohammad Bashir of Accountability held the hearing at the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, where Imran is now incarcerated. The pair also received a punishment of Rs 787 million and a 10-year ban from holding any public office.

What is the subject of the case?
According to allegations made by Pakistan’s anti-graft commission, Imran Khan and his spouse were presented with 108 presents by various international dignitaries and heads of state when he was prime minister. They reportedly kept 58 of the presents out of an undervalued total of more than Rs 142 million.

The NAB’s reference exclusively relates to the Graff jewellery set that was obtained from Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, and kept notwithstanding the accused individuals’ greatly inflated appraisal of it. The deputy military secretary reported the present to Toshakhana of the cabinet division via a letter dated September 2020; nevertheless, the gift was not placed in compliance with the Procedure for the Acceptance and Disposal of Gifts 2018 for an accurate and transparent evaluation.

The PTI founder had been introduced to the court during the hearing, but his wife had not yet shown up. The former prime minister said that his wife was being humiliated by being forced into the lawsuit, even though she had nothing to do with it. The PTI founder said, “I have been duped, as I was only called to mark my attendance for the hearing.”

Imran and his spouse were sentenced to 10 years in jail in the cypher case in January, only one day after he and his deputy Shah Mahmood Qureshi were found guilty of leaking state secrets.

Next day’s hearing on the Cypher case
According to Geo News, IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq said that the cypher matter will be resolved in a few days. He said that the cypher case, which included the leak of state secrets, was scheduled for hearing the following day. “We cannot fix the Toshakhana case for hearing the very next day after holding a hearing on it today,” he said.

In the lawsuit, the former prime minister is allegedly holding up a document that purports to show US complicity in his 2022 fall from office. Imran’s already shattered dreams of running for office in the elections were further dashed by the sentence, which followed previous court issues and charges.

The cypher trial was restarted by the special court last month at the Adiala district prison after the second indictment of Imran and Qureshi on December 13. Last month, the Pakistan Supreme Court granted Imran and Qureshi’s post-arrest bail. Qureshi was mistreated and detained again in a new case pertaining to the May 9 riots, while Imran stayed behind bars because of additional charges brought against him.