(Web Desk Monitoring) — After months of ongoing legal challenges, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi received significant relief as a district and sessions court accepted their pleas to annul their convictions in the iddat case, also known as the un-Islamic nikah case, on Saturday.
Additional Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka announced the short order earlier today. In February of this year, a trial court had sentenced both Khan and Bushra to seven years in prison and fined them Rs500,000 each, ruling their nikah as fraudulent after Khawar Maneka, Bushra’s ex-husband, filed a case against their marriage.
The couple challenged their conviction and approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking various forms of relief. The court’s latest verdict stated that Khan and his wife should be released immediately if they are not wanted in any other cases. However, the petitions seeking the formation of a medical board and consultations with religious scholars were rejected.
This verdict is particularly significant for Khan, who has been incarcerated since August of last year following his conviction in the Toshakhana criminal case and subsequent sentences in other cases. Despite receiving relief in the £190 million reference, Toshakhana case, and an acquittal in the cipher case earlier this month, Khan remained in prison due to his iddat case conviction.
With the verdict in their favor, Khan and Bushra may now be released, pending no further legal issues. Khan had also been granted bail in several cases related to the events of May 9, registered in Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Faisalabad.
Last month, the Islamabad High Court instructed the district court to decide on the pleas seeking suspension of the sentence within 10 days and the pleas challenging the conviction within one month. Judge Majoka had previously rejected their pleas for suspension of the sentence on June 27, stating there was no valid reason for such a suspension.
The PTI condemned the earlier verdict as “absolutely ridiculous,” with its leaders staging a protest outside Adiala jail, where the court had been set up to ensure Khan’s security. The National Assembly opposition leader announced plans to challenge the verdict in the high court, criticizing the politicization of personal matters between a husband and wife.
Overview of the Iddat Case
The iddat case originated when petitioner Muhammad Hanif claimed that Bushra Bibi married Imran Khan on January 1, 2018, despite being divorced by her former husband in November 2017. Hanif argued that her iddat period—the isolation period a woman observes after a husband’s death or divorce—had not ended, making the marriage against Sharia and Muslim norms.
