ISLAMABAD: A district and sessions court reserved its verdict on Tuesday regarding the pleas filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi, seeking the suspension of their sentence in the Iddat case.
Earlier this month, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) directed the district court to decide within 10 days on the pleas for suspending the sentences of former Prime Minister Khan and Bushra Bibi.
Additionally, the court was given one month to decide on the couple’s petition against their conviction.
The IHC’s orders followed multiple petitions filed by the couple. Imran Khan requested the district and sessions court to announce its reserved verdict, while Bushra Bibi sought a decision on her plea in the sessions court for sentence suspension.
The reserved verdict will be announced on June 27 (Thursday) at 3 pm.
In January, Bushra’s ex-husband, Khawar Maneka, challenged their marriage, claiming it was fraudulent as it occurred during her iddat—the period of isolation after a woman’s divorce or her husband’s death.
In February, a trial court sentenced the couple to seven years in prison and fined them Rs500,000 each. Khan and Bushra subsequently filed various appeals, including those against their conviction and for sentence suspension.
Judge Shahrukh Arjumand reserved the verdict on their appeals challenging their conviction on May 23.
However, due to Maneka’s repeated expressions of no confidence, the IHC, at Judge Arjumand’s request, transferred the case to the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majuka.
I am an experienced writer, analyst, and author. My exposure in English journalism spans more than 28 years. In the past, I have been working with daily The Muslim (Lahore Bureau), daily Business Recorder (Lahore/Islamabad Bureaus), Daily Times, Islamabad, daily The Nation (Lahore and Karachi). With daily The Nation, I have served as Resident Editor, Karachi. Since 2009, I have been working as a Freelance Writer/Editor for American organizations.
