Big relief for Imran Khan: Islamabad HC suspends Pak ex-PM's 3-year sentence in Toshakhana case

In a major relief for Imran Khan, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday suspended the former Pakistan prime minister’s three-year sentence in the Toshakhana case The order was pronounced by a division bench comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahan­giri on the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman’s appeal against his jail term. “The copy of the judgment will be available shortly … all we are saying now is that [Imran’s] request has been approved,” a report by Dawn quoted Justice Farooq as saying. The verdict was reserved by the high court a day earlier wherein it directed the authorities to release the PTI chief on bail. On 5 August, a district and sessions court in Islamabad had convicted Imran Khan in the case filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) that involved concealing details of state gifts. The court sentenced him to three years in prison and imposed a fine of Rs 100,000, after finding him guilty of corrupt practices related to the state gift repository. The verdict meant he was disqualified from contesting general elections for five years including the one scheduled later this year. Imran Khan was immediately arrest after the court’s verdict on 5 August and had since been imprisoned in Attock jail. The former Pakistan PM had subsequently filed an appeal in the high court against his conviction. He had also approached the Supreme Court against the IHC’s decision to remand the case back to the trial court judge who had convicted him. However, last week, the SC had acknowledged “procedural defects” in Imran Khan’s conviction but had opted to wait for the Islamabad High Court’s decision on his plea. With inputs from agencies