By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The government on Tuesday approved the trial of former prime minister Imran Khan in jail over allegations that he received land worth millions of dollars as a bribe from a property developer through a charity trust run by his third wife, a spiritual healer.
The law ministry issued a notification for the trial of Khan, who is already serving a three-year sentence in a separate corruption case, in Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail. Khan’s sentence was suspended by the Islamabad High Court (IHC), but he is still the jail for several other cases.
The notification came after the IHC suspended the jail trial of Khan in a cipher case in which he was charged with leaking state secrets, saying it violated his right to a fair trial.
Khan’s lawyers had challenged the legality of the jail trial, arguing that it was a violation of the constitution and the law.
The court ordered the authorities to shift Khan to a hospital for a medical checkup and treatment and adjourned the hearing until Nov. 23.
Khan, a former cricket star who rose to power on an anti-corruption platform, faces several corruption cases filed by the National Accountability Bureau, the country’s anti-graft watchdog after he was ousted by a parliamentary vote in 2022.
The land graft case stems from a £190 million settlement that Pakistan received from Britain in 2019, after a property developer, Malik Riaz Hussain, forfeited cash and assets to settle a British probe into whether they were proceeds of crime.
The last government of the former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif alleged that Khan’s government used the money to pay fines levied by a court against Hussain for the illegal acquisition of government lands at below-market value for development in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city.
In return, Hussain allegedly gave land in Jhelum and Islamabad to Al-Qadir Trust, a charity trust run by Bushra Watto and Khan, which operates a university outside Islamabad devoted to spirituality and Islamic teachings.
The trust has nearly 60 acres of land worth over $24 million and another large piece of land in Islamabad close to Khan’s hilltop home, according to the then-interior minister.
The then-information minister also raised questions about donations given for operations of the under-construction institution, saying that the trust received Rs180 million for operational expenses, but records showed only Rs8.52 million.
Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, has called the cases against him politically motivated and part of a vendetta by the military establishment.
The cipher case
The IHC issued a stay order against the jail trial of Khan over allegations that he leaked state secrets by revealing a secret diplomatic letter from the U.S. that he claimed was proof of a conspiracy to oust him.
The cipher case relates to an alleged diplomatic correspondence between Washington and Islamabad that Khan says was proof that his ouster as prime minister in a no-confidence move in April 2022 was part of a U.S. conspiracy to remove him. Washington has repeatedly denied Khan’s accusations.
Khan says the U.S. got involved in the plot to oust him after he visited Moscow on the eve of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and says the U.S. and Pakistan’s army, at the behest of the U.S., were opposed to him for pursuing an independent foreign policy and thus banded together to overthrow his government. All three deny the charge.
The government has since accused Khan of leaking state secrets and using them for political gains.
A special court was formed on Aug. 21 under the Official Secrets Act, 1923, to adjudicate the matter through in-camera proceedings. The first hearing was held on Aug. 30 in the prison where Khan was imprisoned.
A day before the hearing, a notification was issued by the law ministry saying the cipher case trial would be held in prison due to “security concerns.”
Khan’s lawyers opposed the decision and submitted a request for an open hearing, saying they were concerned the ex-premier would not get a fair trial behind closed doors.
Last month, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party also took the matter to the IHC where its plea was turned down by Chief Justice Aamir Farooq who said there was no malice behind the government’s decision to hold the jail trial.
Khan’s legal team then filed an intra-court appeal against the decision which led to Tuesday’s stay order.
“Islamabad High Court issues a stay order against [Khan’s] jail trial,” Naeem Haider Panjutha, the ex-premier’s spokesperson on legal affairs, said in a social media post. “Justice[s] Mian Gul Hasan Aurangzeb and Saman Rafat Sahiba heard the case.”
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