Pakistan: Imran Khan barred from contesting elections after conviction appeal fails 

In another setback to Imran Khan, former prime minister of Pakistan remained disqualified from contesting elections after a court rejected his plea to suspend an earlier conviction on Thursday. “Imran Khan’s request to suspend the decision in the Tosha Khana criminal case was rejected so that the disqualification would remain,” Khan’s lawyer and spokesman on legal affairs, Naeem Haider Panjutha, said on X. The decision came a day before the deadline for submitting nomination papers for the elections for provincial and national assemblies scheduled for Feb. 8. The 70-year-old former cricket star has been at the centre of a political crisis since he was ousted in a parliamentary confidence vote in April 2022. Khan was imprisoned on Aug. 5 after being sentenced to three years jail on charges of unlawfully selling state gifts during his tenure as prime minister from 2018 to 2022. He denies any wrongdoing and says the charges are politically motivated. He was seeking to overturn that conviction which has barred him from contesting elections for five years. Imran Khan’s party announced on Wednesday that the former PM is set to contest in the upcoming general elections from at least three constituencies. With inputs from agencies.