Jailed former prime minister Imran Khan on Thursday made his first appearance at the Supreme Court of Pakistan since his arrest on August 5, 2023.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court had directed the federal and Punjab governments to facilitate Imran Khan’s appearance in the court via video link from Adiala Jail on Thursday in a case involving amendments to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) laws.
Justice Athar Minallah, who is one of the five-member Supreme Court bench hearing the NAB laws case, had observed that the top court could not refuse to listen to him if the former prime minister wanted to appear before the court and present his argument.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa with Justices Aminuddin Khan, Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Athar Minallah and Hasan Azhar Rizvi as members resumed hearing the case.
During his video link appearance before the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Imran Khan was dressed in blue. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) shared a picture from the video call on its social media pages. In the picture, Imran Khan can be seen seated in a room wearing a light-blue shirt.
The previous hearing of this case was broadcast live, but today’s hearing was not because of Imran Khan’s presence. Some reports even suggested that authorities concerned were not happy with Imran Khan’s picture from video link appearance going viral on social media. Later, Imran Khan’s picture was shown in a small window instead of a full screen. Authorities were still looking for the person who leaked the photo from the courtroom to people outside the court and it went viral instantly.
Had it been live-streamed, it would have become Imran Khan’s first public appearance since his arrest from his Zaman Park residence in August last year in the Toshakhana case.
A day ago, a division bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had granted Imran Khan bail in the £190 million case on a “reasonable ground”. Also on Wednesday, an Islamabad sessions court acquitted Imran Khan in a 2022 case relating to his party’s Azadi March.
Imran Khan arrested in Toshakhana case, sent to Kot Lakhpat Jail