Former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi on Tuesday filed an application in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for an early hearing of the plea for the suspension of their conviction in the £190m Al-Qadir Trust case, in which both of them face a 14-year and a seven-year prison term, respectively.
Imran and Bushra were convicted on January 17 in the case which alleges that the couple obtained billions of rupees and land worth hundreds of kanals from Bahria Town Ltd to legalise Rs50 billion identified and returned to the country by the United Kingdom during the previous PTI government.
On January 27, the couple moved IHC against the decision, asking the court to set aside their conviction, emphasising that the ruling lacked credible evidence and suffered from procedural lapses.
In an application filed on behalf of Imran, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, it was requested that an early hearing be fixed without any further delay, as it is a question of “liberty and freedom”.
It was stated that “an application for suspension of sentence was filed but has not been heard in accordance with the Judicial Policy and Court’s routine, depriving the applicant of his constitutional right to a speedy hearing”, referring to an earlier plea that was filed on behalf of Imran against the conviction in the case.
The appeal called the conviction of the jailed leader a result of “political victimisation”.
The appeal noted that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has “repeatedly sought adjournments in the hearings on the suspension “on the pretext of engaging special prosecutors in the instant matter.”
It stated that the petition filed earlier for the suspension of the conviction under Section 426 of the Pakistan Criminal Procedure Code — the hearings for which were held on May 15, May 27, June 5 and June 26 — gave assurances that an actual date for the suspension hearing will be decided but no specific date for adjudication has been given yet.
The plea further added that on the next hearing, the special prosecutor sought more time and assured the lead counsel of an early date, but no such decision has been made yet.
Stressing the urgency of matters, the statement said that there should be no “legal or procedural impediment in fixing the application for suspension” as it involves the fundamental right of liberty of a citizen under Article 9 of the constitution, which entails that no citizen can be tried without due legal process.
The counsel urged that the applicant is being denied his fundamental right under Article 4 of the Constitution — which ensures that every Pakistani citizen must be treated by the law — due to these delays.
It added that the applicant’s case has been deprioritised without any lawful justification, even though it is standard practice to hear bail matters and suspension applications on priority.
In a similar application, filed on behalf of Bushra Bibi, who is serving a seven-year sentence in the same case, it was stated that the applicant, being a woman, has faced repeated prosecutions with “malicious intent”, citing her involvement in 13 different cases for which he has been acquitted.
They included the Iddat case — filed by her ex-husband, Khawar Fareed Maneka, who alleged that Imran and Bushra contracted marriage during the former first lady’s Iddat period.
The petition highlighted that the delays violate Article 4 of the Constitution, particularly in light of the applicant’s gender and the protective provisions of the law favouring women in bail matters.
Under Article 9 of the Constitution, the petition stated that, “as a woman, she is entitled to additional protections under Islamic jurisprudence and Pakistani law, which mandate leniency and priority in bail matters for female detainees.”
In December 2023, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed a corruption reference against Imran and seven others, including his wife, in connection with the Al-Qadir University Trust.
The reference filed by NAB alleged that Imran played a “pivotal role in the illicit transfer of funds meant for the state of Pakistan into an account designated for the payment of land by Bahria Town, Karachi”.
It also claimed that despite being given multiple opportunities to justify and provide information, the accused deliberately, with mala fide intention, refused to give information on one pretext or another.