After nearly a year in jail, former Pak PM Imran Khan acquitted in illegal marriage case

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani court on Saturday acquitted jailed former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi in the un-Islamic marriage case, the only case keeping the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party founder behind bars.

On February 3 -- days before the general elections on February 8 -- an Islamabad court convicted the couple based on a complaint filed by Bushra Bibi’s ex-husband, Khawar Fareed Maneka, who alleged that they contracted marriage during the former first lady’s Iddat period.

In Islam, a woman can’t remarry before completing four months after divorce or the death of her husband.

The two had challenged the sentence in a district and session court of the capital Islamabad where Additional District and Sessions judge (ADSJ) Afzal Majoka heard the case.

The judge announced the judgment in the afternoon after reserving the verdict earlier in the day, acquitting Khan, 71 and Bushra, 49.

“If they are not wanted in any other case, then PTI founder Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi should be released [from jail] immediately,” the judge said after accepting their appeals.

But it was not clear if he would be released. Though it was the only case for which Khan was in jail after the Toshakhana corruption case sentence was suspended and acquittal in the cipher case.