Pakistani court acquits former Prime Minister Khan, he is arrested again

A Pakistani court on Saturday overturned the convictions and seven-year prison sentences of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife, but authorities immediately moved to block his release from prison.

The acquittal in a 2018 trial over the legality of the couple’s marriage appeared to have cleared the final hurdle to Khan’s release nearly a year after his detention. His supporters had begun gathering near the prison where he was being held in the garrison city of Rawalpindi to welcome him upon his release.

But shortly after the court ruling, Khan was arrested again in connection with last year’s unrest, his party said, adding that it believed Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, had also been arrested again as part of an ongoing corruption case.

Authorities have opened several cases against Khan since 2022, when he was ousted from office by a no-confidence vote in parliament. Since his first arrest in May 2023, Khan has been involved in more than 150 court cases, including for inciting violence.

Earlier this month, the United Nations Working Group on Human Rights called for Khan’s immediate release, saying he had been detained “arbitrarily and in violation of international law.”

Saturday’s acquittal relates to Khan’s marriage to Bibi, his third wife. She was previously married to a man who claimed they divorced in November 2017, less than three months before her wedding to Khan. Under Islamic law, as maintained by Pakistan, a three-month waiting period is required before remarrying.

Bibi had stated that they divorced in August 2017 and the couple insisted during the process that they had not violated the waiting period.

Following Khan’s arrest in May 2023, Khan’s supporters attacked military and government buildings in various parts of the country and set fire to a building belonging to the state-owned Pakistan Radio Broadcasting Company.

The violence only subsided when Khan was released by the Supreme Court, but he was arrested again in early August 2023 after a court sentenced him to three years in prison for corruption.

In recent months, Khan has been acquitted in several cases related to last year’s violence, but his bail was revoked this week in connection with one such case pending against him in the eastern Zimbabwean city of Lahore.

Khan’s party said it would seek bail for him in higher courts.

The latest development came a day after Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled that Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf party had been wrongly denied at least 20 seats in parliament, dealing a significant blow to the country’s fragile ruling coalition.

Khan’s Pakistan Party was previously excluded from a system that awards parties additional seats in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, reserved for women and minorities. While the ruling was a major political victory for Khan, it would not enable his party to topple the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who came to power after a Feb. 8 election that Khan’s allies say was rigged.

Ahmed writes for the Associated Press.