Will the court stay the order staying the Iddat case?

ISLAMABAD:

An appeals court will today (Thursday) announce its decision on petitions filed by former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi seeking suspension of their sentences in an illegal marriage case.

Islamabad Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka will announce the decision at 3 pm. The decision was deferred after the conclusion of arguments by both parties.

Hearing a confession filed by Bushra Bibi’s former husband Khawar Maneka, a district judge on February 3 convicted Bushra and Imran and imposed a prison sentence of seven years for solemnising a marriage on January 1, 2028, without Bushra first observing the mandatory waiting period – the iddat.

The couple had challenged the magistrate’s order before the Islamabad District Court and Justice Shahrukh Arjumand. However, the judge transferred the case to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on May 29 for transfer to another court after Maneka expressed her distrust towards him.

The IHC later posted the case for hearing before the court of Islamabad Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka. On June 13, the IHC also directed the court to decide on the couple’s application for suspension of sentence within ten days.

At the hearing of the case on June 21, Imran’s counsel Salman Akram Raja argued that no one is allowed to peek into a woman’s private affairs, citing an earlier verdict by a court that included renowned scholar Mufti Taqi Usmani, Raja said.