ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani high court on Thursday set aside a physical remand of former prime minister Imran Khan in a dozen new cases related to the May 9, 2023 riots, his lawyer confirmed.
An anti-terrorism court in Lahore last week granted police a 10-day physical remand of the former prime minister in a dozen fresh cases related to the May 9, 2023 attacks, when angry Khan supporters attacked military installations and government buildings across the country in response to his brief arrest.
Khan had approached the Lahore High Court (LHC) on July 18, challenging his physical remand in the cases and requesting the court to declare it null and void.
“The physical remand granted has been declared null and void,” Khan’s lawyer Naeem Haider Panjutha said in a video message. “This will prove to be a major setback for those who got elected through Form 47s,” he added, referring to the government.
Khan was convicted in four cases ahead of a February national election and has been in jail since August last year, but all of the sentences against him, the last of them in a case in which he and his wife were convicted of violating Pakistan’s marriage laws, have since been overturned or suspended.
Earlier this month, however, hours after being acquitted in the marriage case, a fresh corruption reference was filed against Khan and his wife by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
The new reference is related to the alleged “misuse of power in acquiring Toshakhana gifts.”
Khan and his wife are charged in the Toshakhana case with selling gifts worth more than 140 million rupees ($501,000) in state possession, which he received during his 2018-2022 premiership. The gifts included diamond jewelry and seven watches, six of them Rolexes — the most expensive being valued at 85 million rupees ($305,000).
Pakistani media widely reported on Sunday that an accountability court had approved an eight-day physical remand each for Khan and Bushra in the new NAB reference.
Khan and his wife are expected to remain in prison due to their remand in the Toshakhana reference, which they have challenged at the Islamabad High Court.