Pakistan court rejects former PM Imran Khan’s request to suspend conviction News
© WikiMedia (Chatham House)
Pakistan court rejects former PM Imran Khan’s request to suspend conviction

Pakistan’s Islamabad High Court rejected on Wednesday an appeal from former Prime Minister Imran Khan to suspend his conviction on corruption charges. Khan was found guilty and sentenced in an Islamabad trial court to three years prison and a fine of 100,000 PKR for making false declarations about his assets to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). Khan was also disqualified from running for public office for five years.

The appeal did not just contain an appeal of Khan’s conviction, but also a request to move Khan to a different prison with better facilities. Khan is currently held in Attock, but Khan’s lawyers asked to move him to Adiala jail in Rawalpindi. Speaking to reporters outside of the court, Khan’s lawyer Naeem Haider Panjutha said that the court rejected their appeal and the request. The case has also been adjourned for an indefinite period of time.

Imran Khan became Pakistan’s prime minister in 2018. He was then removed from office in April 2022 following a vote of no-confidence in Parliament. In October 2022, Imran Khan was barred from holding any position in the National Assembly, the lower house of Pakistan’s Parliament, and criminal proceedings against him over an alleged misdeclaration of money earned through illegal activities were initiated.

Most recently, Imran Khan had requested to suspend his prosecution but was rejected by the country’s Supreme Court in July. Then, on Saturday, a court found him guilty of unlawfully selling state gifts. Khan still faces over 150 cases now pending in the Pakistan court system.