Former Prime Minister Imran Khan of Pakistan and his wife were acquitted on Saturday in a case that accused them of unlawful marriage, the latest in a string of legal victories for the embattled leader ousted from power two years ago.
However, he is unlikely to be immediately released from prison, where he has been held for nearly a year, as the authorities have recently suggested that he will face new charges. Earlier in the week, his prospects for bail dimmed in a case over accusations that he had incited violent riots and that his supporters had ransacked several military installations last May.
Just days before the Feb. 8 parliamentary elections, Mr. Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, were convicted in back-to-back cases. In the one known locally as the illegal marriage case, Mr. Khan and Ms. Bibi each received a sentence of seven years in prison. A court found them guilty of having violated Islamic law by not adhering to the required waiting period between Ms. Bibi’s divorce and her marriage to Mr. Khan.
The conviction drew widespread criticism from human rights and women’s groups, who argued that it represented a setback for women’s rights and would perpetuate male dominance over marital relationships in Pakistan.
On Saturday, Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka of the Islamabad Additional District and Sessions Court announced that the appeals of both Mr. Khan and Ms. Bibi had been accepted. The judge ordered their release, provided there were no other cases against the couple.
The legal proceedings and appeals of the unlawful marriage case were marred by delays, controversies, heated arguments and even physical violence between Mr. Khan’s lawyers and Khawar Maneka, the first husband of Ms. Bibi.
Mr. Maneka accused Mr. Khan of being a “homewrecker” and even demanded a medical examination of his former wife to ascertain her menstrual cycle, causing shock and condemnation from human rights activists and even some politicians opposed to Mr. Khan.
Mr. Khan has been in jail since last August on several charges, including corruption, treason and arson. Most of the charges had been either overturned or suspended by the courts. Ms. Bibi has been in jail since May of this year.
A world-famous cricket player turned politician, Mr. Khan ascended to power in 2018 but was ousted in 2022 after a vote of no confidence in Parliament. Although he remained popular, he was criticized for his handling of the economy and political vendettas against his opponents. Mr. Khan blamed the military, which controls the levers of power in the country, and the United States for his ouster, a charge both parties have denied.
Since his removal from power, Mr. Khan has managed to retain, and even increase, his popularity and has challenged the country’s powerful military generals. Despite a brutal police crackdown on his party’s leaders and workers before the elections, Mr. Khan’s supporters secured more seats than any other political party in Parliament.
“This acquittal represents a victory not just for Imran Khan and his wife, but for women as well,” said Zulfi Bukhari, a close aide to Mr. Khan. “The case would have set a very bad precedent and made it very hard for any woman to leave a bad marriage.”
Mr. Bukhari said he expected the military establishment to double down against Mr. Khan as it tried to keep him in prison. But he expressed optimism about Mr. Khan’s eventual release.
“It is a matter of time now,” Mr. Bukhari said.
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