RAWALPINDI – A lower court has sentenced former prime minister Imran Khan and his third wife Bushra Bibi to seven years in prison in a case related to their marriage during the latter’s Iddat period.
Senior civil judge Qudratullah announced the verdict on the complaint of Bushra’s former husband Khawar Fareed Maneka in a makeshift court at the Adiala District Jail.
This is the third conviction for Imran Khan and second for Bushra Bibi this week. The former prime minister was sentenced to 10 years in prison in the cipher case and then 14 years in prison in the Toshakhana case this week.
Khan, who has been incarcerated since August 5, 2023, after his ouster from power on April 10, 2022, through a controversial vote of no-confidence allegedly orchestrated by the Pakistan’s powerful establishment, has already been disqualified from holding any public office and even leading the party he founded 27 years ago, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
After his conviction in the Iddat case, PTI founder Imran Khan told court reporters that the case against him was created to “humiliate and disgrace” both him and his spouse, Bushra Bibi. “This marks the first instance in history where a case related to Iddat has been initiated,” he said.
Imran said it was also the first time that someone was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment in a Toshakhana case. He said he has neither accepted nor would accept in future any deals with the powers that be. He said that he would “choose death over making a deal with anyone”. In a brief chat with court reporters after the verdict, Khan said, “I have not made a deal, nor will I ever make one.”
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Khan said that his party’s top leadership was targeted right after the announcement of the election schedule. “Now, election candidates are not even being allowed to run their campaigns,” he said, referring to the crackdown launched by the state institutions on the leaders and workers of his party since May 9, 2023, the day when Imran Khan’s supporters reacted violently to his arrest on the Islamabad High Court (IHC) premises by the paramilitary forces and then attacked the civil and military installations across the country.