The Islamabad District and Sessions Court acquitted on Saturday PTI leader Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi in the iddat case, also known as the nikkah case, brought up against them by Bushra Bibi’s former husband Khawar Maneka, who claimed they married before the end of the mandatory period after Bushra Bibi’s divorce.

Judge Afzal Majoka overturned their sentences and ordered them to be released at the end of a speedy retrial ordered by Islamabad High Court.

Tariq Chauhdry and Shaukat Piracha of Aaj News say Bushra Bibi was likely to be set free after the ruling, though Imran Khan’s release was not imminent as he faced other cases including the May 9 riot cases.

Khan remains locked up, though, with a PTI spokesman saying a court in Lahore had approved his arrest over three cases alleging he incited riots in May 2023.

Spokesman Ahmed Janjua said in a statement it was “yet another gimmick to keep the illegal imprisonment prolonged”.

The court ruling comes a day after the Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled that PTI deserved its due share of reserved seats in the national and provincial assemblies.

The Supreme Court verdict was hailed as a major victory for the PTI. The latest judgment in the iddat case adds to the list of victories the PTI has secured in recent months.

In April, Islamabad High Court suspended Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi’s sentence in the Toshakhana case.

The Islamabad High Court also ordered to complete the hearing of Khan’s and Bushra Bibi’s appeal in the iddat case within one month. The deadline set by the IHC expired on Friday, July 12.

On Friday, Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka held the final hearing and on Saturday he reserved the judgment which was pronounced shortly afterwards.

Iddat case

The couple were originally sentenced to seven years in prison by a civil court in Islamabad. They were also ordered to pay a fine of Rs500,000 each. Khan and Bushra Bibi appealed the sentence before the sessions court.

Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi filed appeals and Judge Shah Rukh Arjumand reserved the verdict on May 23.

However, in light of Khwar Maneka’s repeated expression of no confidence, the Islamabad High Court transferred the case to the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka on the request of Judge Arjumand.

Following the High Court’s directive to decide on the suspension of sentences within 10 days, the District and Sessions Court reserved its verdict on the petitions filed by Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi against their sentence on June 25.

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Courting controversy

Earlier this month a UN panel of experts found Khan’s detention “had no legal basis and appears to have been intended to disqualify him from running for political office”.

“Thus, from the outset, that prosecution was not grounded in law and was reportedly instrumentalised for a political purpose,” it said, calling for his immediate release after nearly a year in jail.

Candidates loyal to Khan won the most seats in the national election, but were kept from government by an alliance of rival parties.

Khan served as prime minister from 2018 to 2022, when he was ousted by a no-confidence vote.

In opposition he waged a campaign of defiance against the top generals, who directly ruled Pakistan for decades of its history, even accusing them of an assassination attempt that wounded him.

But the former cricket star’s comeback campaign was hobbled by scores of legal cases, which analysts say were likely brought at the behest of the military establishment.

Gallup Pakistan analyst Bilal Gilani said the rolling back of the cases could suggest the establishment was softening its stance on Khan after the election secured their favoured government – or that the courts were defying their attempts to keep him confined.

“It is an important judgement, because essentially now there are a limited number of cases left,” he told AFP.

“Immediate release is quite impossible, but… the chances of release are getting clearer by the day,” he added.

Khan was first briefly arrested in May 2023, sparking nationwide unrest from PTI supporters, some of which targeted military facilities.

The government and military cited the attacks as justification for a sweeping crackdown on PTI, which saw its senior leadership decimated by arrests and defections.

An anti-terrorism court in the eastern city of Lahore on Tuesday refused to grant him bail as police investigate his alleged role in the unrest, despite the fact he was behind bars at the time.

(With input from AFP)