Imran Khan’s prison sentence in Pakistan is suspended

The former prime minister has been granted bail by the Islamabad High Court while he continues to contest the corruption allegations against him.

Imran Khan, a former Pakistani prime minister, had his prison term suspended when the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday authorised his release on bail. Khan was found guilty earlier this month of illegally concealing and selling gifts that he had obtained while serving as governor of the state.

A two-judge IHC panel suspended Khan’s sentence after overturning a lower court’s decision to condemn him to three years in jail and ordering his immediate release.

However, Khan still faces a plethora of additional charges, which means that after leaving the Attock maximum-security jail where he is presently being kept, he might be immediately rearrested.

Khan should not have been convicted in the first place, according to his spokeswoman Raoof Hasan, who called the accusations against him “a fake case without any substance.”

Hasan told the outlet, “We are only hoping that he is not rearrested in one of the 180+ frivolous or fraudulent cases that have unfortunately been registered against him. In nine cases in particular, Khan was denied bail because he was unable to appear in court because he was already in prison.

Hasan said that Khan’s legal team has submitted a petition for a “blanket bail” that would “ensure he will not be rearrested in any other cases after the suspension of his current sentence,” to combat the danger of a rearrest. Al Jazeera reports that a hearing regarding the blanket bail will probably occur on Wednesday.

Although Khan’s supporters have praised the court’s ruling and are getting ready for his freedom, his detractors are saying that it could be too soon to celebrate.

US instructed Pakistan to depose Imran Khan – Intercept
Learn more. US instructed Pakistan to depose Imran Khan – Intercept
It’s important to keep in mind that only the sentence has been suspended, not the actual conviction, according to attorney Mirza Moiz Baig, who also noted that despite the suspension, Khan will still be banned from electoral politics for a further five years and will not be permitted to run in future elections.

Khan, who is now 70, lost a vote of no-confidence in April but has since vehemently denied all allegations of misconduct and maintained that they were brought against him for political reasons. The US State Department may have exerted pressure on Pakistan to remove Khan due to his “aggressively neutral position” on Ukraine, according to a report by The Intercept earlier this month.