A district and sessions court in Islamabad Thursday rejected the pleas seeking suspension of the sentence handed down to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi in the iddat case.
The verdict drew strong condemnation from the PTI, which called it “absolutely ridiculous”, and its leaders — who were hoping for Imran’s release today — staged a protest outside the Adiala jail, where the court had been set up to ensure the security of the ex-prime minister.
Additional Sessions Judge Afzal Majoka announced the verdict today, reserved on Tuesday, with the hearing on the central plea related to the annulment of their conviction set to take place on July 2.
The PTI founder and Bushra were each sentenced to seven years in prison in February earlier this year after a trial court found their nikah to be fraudulent as Khawar Maneka, Bushra’s ex-husband, moved the court against the couple’s marriage.
The case first came to surface when a petitioner, Muhammad Hanif, had claimed that Bushra Bibi was divorced by her former husband in November 2017 and married Khan on January 1, 2018, even though her iddat period — the time a woman goes into isolation after her husband dies or divorces her — had not ended, “which is against the Sharia and Muslim norms.”
A district and sessions court in Islamabad then rejected the plea. The court termed the petition “inadmissible” and said that it fell outside its jurisdiction, prior to which the petitioner withdrew his plea.
Later, Bushra’s former husband Khawar Maneka had filed a complaint against the “un-Islamic marriage” of Khan and Bushra in the court of Civil Judge Qudratullah on November 25, 2023, under the under Sections 34, 496, 496-B of the Pakistan Penal Code.
