Pak court acquits Imran in illegal marriage case

Islamabad, July 13

A Pakistani court on Saturday acquitted jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi in the un-Islamic marriage case, the only case keeping the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party founder behind bars since August last year.

However, barely an hour after his acquittal in the case, an anti-terrorism court in Lahore approved the request to arrest the PTI leader in three cases linked to the unprecedented May 9 riots following his arrest in an alleged corruption case. The PTI called his latest arrest a “gimmick to keep the illegal imprisonment prolonged”.

On February 3 — days before the general elections on February 8 — an Islamabad court convicted the couple based on a complaint filed by Bushra Bibi’s ex-husband, Khawar Fareed Maneka, who alleged that they contracted marriage during the former first lady’s Iddat period.

In Islam, a woman can’t remarry before completing four months after divorce or the death of her husband. The couple had challenged the sentence in a district and session court of Islamabad, where Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Afzal Majoka heard the case. The judge announced the judgment after reserving the verdict earlier in the day, acquitting Khan, 71 and Bushra, 49. “If they are not wanted in any other case, then PTI founder Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi should be released immediately,” the judge said. — PTI

Yet another gimmick, says PTI

• Imran Khan’s party PTI dubbed his arrest in three more cases a “gimmick”
• “Yet another gimmick to keep the illegal imprisonment prolonged,” it said
• ATC Lahore has decided to bow to the power hub instead of serving justice, it added