A Pakistani court on Tuesday suspended former prime minister Imran Khan’s recent conviction on corruption charges, his lawyer Naeem Panjutha said, but it will not lead to his release as a judge has ordered his detention in another case.
The 70-year-old former cricket hero has been at the centre of political turmoil in the crisis-ridden nuclear-armed state since his removal from office in a parliamentary vote of confidence in April 2022, and his relations with Pakistan’s powerful generals have deteriorated badly over the past year.
Mr Khan was imprisoned on August 5th after being sentenced to three years jail for unlawfully selling state gifts during his tenure as prime minister from 2018 to 2022. As a result of the conviction, and with a national election expected in the coming months, Pakistan’s Election Commission also barred Mr Khan from contesting elections for five years.
“The sentence has been suspended,” Mr Panjutha said on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter, adding: “God be praised.”
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Mr Khan’s legal team had lodged an appeal on the grounds that he was convicted without being given the right to defend himself. The court also ordered Mr Khan’s release on bail, another one of his lawyers, Shoaib Shaheen, told reporters outside the court. But he will not be freed as he has been detained in at least one other separate case on charges of leaking state secrets.
A special court in Islamabad has ordered prison authorities to keep Mr Khan in judicial custody and present him before the court on Wednesday.
A Federal Investigation Agency official, who requested anonymity, said Mr Khan was charged with making public the contents of a confidential cable sent by Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States and using it for political gain.
Mr Khan’s top aide, former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, has already been arrested in the same case.
Mr Khan alleges that the cable proves that his removal was at the behest of the United States, which he said pressed Pakistan’s military to topple his government because he had visited Russia shortly before its attack on Ukraine. Both the United States and the Pakistani military have denied that.
The suspension does not mean Mr Khan’s graft conviction has been overturned, which is pending a detailed hearing in the court, according to constitutional lawyer Abdul Moiz Jaferii.
“[Mr Khan] being left at liberty is now hindered by him being required by the police and relevant investigation agencies in the multitude of other cases instituted against him,” Mr Jaferii said.
He said Mr Khan would need to seek bail from the other courts hearing those cases.
Mr Khan faces dozens of cases, including charges of abetment to murder and orchestrating violent protests that followed his initial arrest in May. He denies all the charges. It is unclear how the ban on his contesting elections will be affected by the suspension of his sentence. National elections are due later this year and a caretaker government was appointed this month, but voting is likely to be delayed several months.
The suspension marks another win for Mr Khan and comes a day after the Balochistan high court dismissed sedition charges against him, saying they had been improperly filed.
Mr Khan’s political opponents also say that the former prime minister will remain in custody.
“He has been on judicial remand for 15 days, which is expiring tomorrow, and he will be produced for extension of the remand tomorrow in a special court,” said Ataullah Tarar, a key aide to former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Mr Khan’s camp called for him to be released following Tuesday’s suspension of his graft conviction.
“Arresting him in any other case will cause further damage to our national integrity and repute of judicial system,” Mr Khan’s aide Zulfikar Bukhari posted on X.
“Let the innocent be free!” he added. – Reuters