By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court on Monday turned down petitions by former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, seeking to suspend their prison sentences in a high-profile £190 million corruption case, ruling that their main appeals against conviction were already scheduled for an early hearing.
A two-member bench led by Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar declared the suspension applications “infructuous,” or no longer viable, because the central appeals have been fixed for May 7. During an earlier hearing on April 30, Justice Dogar had stressed that the most appropriate course was to expedite resolution of the substantive appeals rather than entertain interim relief.
Khan, who has been imprisoned since Aug. 5, 2023, is serving a 14-year sentence at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail in the case, also known as the Al-Qadir Trust reference. The former premier was originally convicted alongside Bushra Bibi in a separate matter involving the concealment of details about gifts he received while in office from the Toshakhana, the government repository for official presents. The £190 million case centers on allegations that the couple received billions of rupees and hundreds of kanals of land from the real estate developer Bahria Town Ltd. in exchange for helping to legitimise Rs50 billion that British authorities had identified and repatriated to Pakistan during Khan’s government.
An accountability court in Islamabad sentenced Khan to 14 years and Bushra Bibi to seven years on Jan. 17, 2025. Both immediately challenged their convictions in the high court.
In a separate but related proceeding on Monday, Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir heard a petition filed by Bushra Bibi’s daughter seeking court-ordered access to a personal physician for her mother and permission for a family meeting. Salman Akram Raja, counsel for the family, told the court that an application had already been submitted to Adiala Jail authorities both by courier and in person. He noted that Bushra Bibi underwent surgery during the night of April 16-17.
The judge directed the jail superintendent to decide the application within two days and to issue a reasoned order. The superintendent was also summoned to appear in person on May 6. Justice Tahir observed that the court was simply forwarding the request to the jail authorities for an appropriate decision, adding that such matters had already become the subject of public discussion.
Bushra Bibi had separately approached the high court on April 19, seeking suspension of her sentence on medical grounds.
In another related development, the court sought a response from jail authorities in a contempt petition alleging their failure to arrange a meeting between Khan and his lawyer. The court was told that jail officials had not yet signed the counsel’s power of attorney. The matter stems from a March 2025 high court judgment that restored the former prime minister’s visitation rights to twice a week.
Separately, the court issued notice to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan in a petition seeking the closure of Khan’s official account on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. The petition, filed in September 2025, alleges that inflammatory posts have been made from the account of the PTI founder while he remains incarcerated.
Further hearings in these ancillary matters were adjourned until next week. The decisions come as Khan, who was ousted from power in 2022 through a parliamentary no-confidence vote, continues to face multiple legal challenges that have kept him behind bars for nearly three years. Supporters of the former cricket-star-turned-politician maintain that the cases against him are politically motivated attempts by the country’s military establishment and its civilian allies to sideline him from national politics. Pakistani authorities have consistently denied the allegations, insisting the proceedings are based on evidence of wrongdoing.
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