ISLAMABAD: An Islamabad district and sessions court on Thursday rejected the requests of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi to temporarily halt their seven-year sentences in the Iddat case.
Additional district and sessions judge (ADSJ) Afzal Majoka delivered the verdict today, which had been reserved on Tuesday.
On February 3 — just days before the general elections — an Islamabad court convicted the couple based on a complaint from Bushra Bibi’s ex-husband, Khawar Fareed Maneka, who alleged they married during the former first lady’s Iddat period.
Senior civil judge Qudratullah had sentenced the former prime minister and his spouse to seven years in jail and imposed a fine of Rs500,000 each.
The verdict came in the same week the couple was handed 14-year sentences in the Toshakhana case, and Imran and his foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, received a 10-year sentence in the cipher case.
The Toshakhana case sentences were suspended in April, and earlier this month, Imran and Qureshi were also acquitted in the cipher case. Therefore, both Imran and Bushra now remain incarcerated at Adiala Jail only for the Iddat case.
The Iddat conviction was widely criticised by civil society, women activists, and lawyers as a “blow to women’s right to dignity and privacy.” Activists protested against the verdict in Islamabad, while a demonstration in Karachi also denounced it as the “state’s intrusion into people’s private lives.”
Previously, District and Sessions Judge Shahrukh Arjumand was hearing the case and had reserved the verdict in May.
However, on the day of the expected announcement, he sought to transfer the case, citing Maneka’s request for recusal from hearing the appeals. Subsequently, the case was transferred to the court of ADSJ Majoka.
Last week, Maneka’s counsel had repeatedly sought an adjournment in the proceedings but judge Majoka ordered him to conclude his arguments by June 25.
