Pakistan’s Imran Khan gets bail in a graft case but will stay behind bars on other charges
The Hindu
Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan granted bail in graft case, but remains in prison with multiple charges pending.
A Pakistani court granted bail on Wednesday (November 20, 2024) to former Prime Minister Imran Khan in a graft case, his lawyer said. But with a slew of other charges pending against him, the Opposition leader is staying behind bars.
Still, the order by a superior court in the capital, Islamabad, was a boost for Khan in the case in which he is accused, along with his wife, Bushra Bibi, of keeping and selling state gifts in violation of government rules when he was in power.
Khan, who was ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament in 2022, has denied the charge. The hearings in the trial on the graft charges started in July and are still ongoing.
Khan has so far been embroiled in over 150 cases and has been sentenced in several, including to three years, 10 years, 14 years and seven years to be served concurrently under Pakistani law.
His convictions were later overturned in appeals but he cannot be freed due to other, pending cases against him. Because the law is unclear in a situation with multiple cases, Khan has remained in the same prison in the garrison city of Rawalpindi where he has been incarcerated since his first conviction.
He has maintained his innocence and has argued that the cases are an attempt to sideline him politically by keeping him out of the public area.
Also read: Pakistan court gives 14-page questionnaire to Imran Khan, his wife Bushra Bibi in Al-Qadir Trust case
