Pakistan court acquits former PM Imran Khan, wife in unlawful marriage case

A court in Pakistan has acquitted former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife on charges of unlawful marriage, according to his party and lawyer.

Khan and his wife Bushra Khan, also known as Bushra Bibi, were sentenced to seven years in prison, days before Pakistan’s election in February, a court ruling at the time that their marriage in 2018 violated Islamic law.

In June a court rejected their plea to have the February ruling suspended.

But on Saturday, an Islamabad court said the “appeals of both Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi are accepted”.

Zulfi Bukhari, a senior official in Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party told Al Jazeera that the charges had been “dismissed”, while Khan’s lawyer, Naeem Panjutha, posted on X, that the couple “are acquitted”.

Khan remains behind bars as a court this week cancelled his bail over accusations he incited riots by his supporters in May 2023.

Lawyer Intazar Hussain Panjutha told Al Jazeera that Khan “will not be released despite acquittal today [Saturday]”.

An anti-terrorism court in Lahore this week approved Khan’s arrest in a case related to last year’s riots, his party’s legal team said.

The marriage case was filed last year by Bibi’s former husband, Khawar Maneka, who alleged that his divorced wife did not observe the necessary three-month break required under Islamic law before marrying Khan. Maneka claims he divorced his wife in November 2017. Khan announced his third marriage, to Bibi, in February 2018, months before he became the prime minister.

And as for Bibi, Bukhari said “this unlawful marriage case was the only one keeping her behind bars and with this acquittal, she should be immediately released today, not tomorrow”.

Earlier this month a United Nations panel of experts found Khan’s detention arbitrary and said it “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 general election, but were kept from government by an alliance of military-backed rival parties.

The PTI secured a major legal victory on Friday when the Supreme Court declared it eligible for a share of reserved seats in national and provincial assemblies, a significant setback to the coalition government.

Khan served as prime minister from 2018 to 2022, when he was removed by a no-confidence vote after falling out with the military establishment, which wields huge influence over civilian politics.

In opposition, he waged a campaign of defiance against the top generals, 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.

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 the PTI, which saw its senior leadership decimated by arrests and defections.

Surviving the crackdown

PTI candidates were forced to stand as independents in the February 8 elections, which had been repeatedly delayed amid political chaos.

Khan’s arrest and conviction for corruption back in August 2023 – on charges that he denies – meant he was barred from standing for office himself, confined to a cell in Adiala Jail south of the capital, Islamabad.