Islamabad

According to a source, on Thursday, a district and sessions court in Islamabad rejected the requests of former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan and his spouse, Bushra Bibi, to have their seven-year sentences in the Iddat Case suspended.

Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Afzal Majoka made a noteworthy announcement on Thursday on the verdict, which had been reserved since Tuesday.

The Iddat conviction was sharply denounced by attorneys, women activists, and civil society members as a setback to women’s rights to privacy and dignity.

Actors had protested the decision in Islamabad, and protesters opposed to the state’s interference in people’s private life had criticized it in Karachi.

A court in Islamabad sentenced the pair to seven years in prison and fined them PKR 500,000 apiece on February 3, just before the general elections. The couple was married within Bushra Bibi’s Iddat period.

In the Toshakhana case, the couple received a 14-year prison sentence, while the same week the conviction was announced in the Cypher case, Imran and his foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, received a 10-year prison sentence.

In the Cypher case earlier this month, Imran and Qureshi were found not guilty, and in the Toshakhana case, the sentences were deferred in April.

Judge Shahrukh Arjumand of the District and Sessions Court had earlier heard the matter; he had deferred his decision until May.
He asked for the case to be transferred on the day of the planned announcement, referencing Maneka’s request to be taken off the appeals panel. The matter was then transferred to Majoka ADSJ.