The legal woes of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan continue to multiply as an accountability court on Wednesday sentenced the former prime minister and his spouse Bushra Bibi to 14 years in prison with rigorous punishment in the Toshakhana reference.
\nAccountability court\u2019s Judge Muhammad Bashir announced the verdict, also disqualifying the former prime minister for 10 years while handing over a fine of Rs1.573 billion \u2014 787 million each \u2014 to the couple. During the previous hearing, which was also held at Adiala jail, the court recorded Bushra Bibi\u2019s statement under Section 342.
\nKhan told the court that his wife had nothing to do with the case and was being humiliated by being forcibly dragged into it.At the outset of the hearing today, Judge Bashir asked Khan if he recorded his statement. To this, the former premier said that he would submit his statement once his lawyers came.
\n\u201cI have been deceived as I was only called to mark my attendance for the hearing,\u201d said the PTI founder.On the other hand, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) termed the notification of Khan\u2019s jail trial in Toshakhana and the \u00a3190 million settlement cases as correct.The court also dismissed the PTI founder\u2019s petitions against the jail trial in the cases filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
\nApparently, the jail trial was in view of the threats to the life of the petitioner, adding that it was not \u201cmalice\u201d. IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Tariq Jahangiri issued a detailed verdict while also rejecting the petitioner\u2019s objection over the appointment of the accountability judge.
\n\u201cSection 352 of the Criminal Code is applied in the Official Secrets Act case in the absence of a clear law,\u201d said the court. It added that the high court rules and Section 352 will be applied when the sessions court passes an order concerning the location. The court said that the objection over the notification of jail hearing being issued before the reference was correct.
\n\u201cThe NAB prosecutor had said that at the time of the notification, the proceedings of bail and remand were underway,\u201d the IHC said, adding that the proceedings cannot be declared null and void on the basis of an executive or trial court order. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The legal woes of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan continue to multiply as an accountability court on Wednesday sentenced the former prime minister and his spouse Bushra Bibi to 14 years in prison with rigorous punishment in the Toshakhana reference. Accountability court\u2019s Judge Muhammad Bashir announced the verdict, also disqualifying the former prime minister […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-384746","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-editorial"},"yoast_head":"\n