Bushra asks IHC to stay verdict in Iddat case

ISLAMABAD:

Bushra Bibi, wife of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, has filed a petition before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking stay of her conviction and sentence in a case involving her marriage to Imran without observing the mandatory waiting period (iddat).

A judge named Qudratullah sentenced Imran and Bushra to seven years in prison each on February 3 while hearing a complaint filed by Bushra’s former husband Khawar Maneka, nearly six years after the PTI founder’s wedding to his ex-wife in January 2018.

The couple later appealed the court’s decision before a district and sessions court in Islamabad. However, when the court was about to pronounce its verdict on the appeals, Khawar Maneka expressed his distrust of Justice Shahrukh Arjumand.

Justice Arjumand then referred the case for referral to another court and the IHC posted it for hearing in the court of Islamabad Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majuka.

In her petition, filed through lawyer Salman Safdar, Bushra Bibi sought a suspended sentence. The petition argued that the prosecution had presented weak and contradictory evidence to the court, which could not form a basis for conviction. The court’s verdict cannot be upheld, it said.

According to the petition, Bushra Bibi is being held in prison under appalling conditions as part of a political vendetta. To ensure justice, it is necessary to suspend the court’s February 3 verdict and order her release on bail.