Gates Foundation chief sees Middle East strife undermining long-term efforts on malnutrition and immunization

Gates Foundation chief sees Middle East strife undermining long-term efforts on malnutrition and immunization
Mark Suzman attends Goalkeepers 2023: Daytime Event at Jazz at Lincoln Center on September 20, 2023 in New York City. (File/AFP)
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Updated 30 September 2024
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Gates Foundation chief sees Middle East strife undermining long-term efforts on malnutrition and immunization

Gates Foundation chief sees Middle East strife undermining long-term efforts on malnutrition and immunization
  • Mark Suzman says conflicts and humanitarian disasters in places like Gaza and Sudan overlap with cases of malnutrition
  • Lauds “true leadership role” being played by Arab Gulf states through prudent and precise humanitarian investment

NEW YORK CITY: As world leaders gather in New York for the UN General Assembly, any residual optimism about the prospect of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by the end of the decade looks fainter than ever before.

Mark Suzman, CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, believes the world had already been falling behind with regard to the SDGs even prior to this latest crisis. Speaking to Arab News, he issued a stark warning on the consequences for humanity if the aims go unmet.

Following the publication of the foundation’s annual Goalkeepers report, Suzman appealed for a renewed global commitment to achieving the 2030 goals — 15 years after the ambitious targets, ranging from eradicating poverty to combating climate change, were set.

The theme of this year’s report is focused on what Suzman described as the “blight of malnutrition” — a scourge that has ravaged parts of the Middle East and North Africa owing to conflicts in Gaza, Yemen, and Sudan, inflationary pressures, and the impact of climate change.




Coletta Kemboi selling her milk at a market in Eldoret City, Kenya. (Gates Archive)

Despite recording significant progress across key indicators since the start of the new millennium, recent data has revealed a slowdown in development across the board, presenting what Suzman called a “broad picture of stagnation.”

The Gates Foundation, launched in 2000, is the second-largest charitable body in the world.

Suzman said the world had reason to feel optimistic in the wake of the new millennium. Buoyed by successful global health and vaccination campaigns, a halving of preventable child mortality took place between 2000 and 2020 — from 10 million deaths per year to fewer than five million.




Acute malnutrition measurement 2. (UNICEF)

“A lot of that was on the back of massively increased vaccination rates and the scale up of vaccines through the GAVI Vaccine Alliance,” he said, referring to the global public-private health partnership devoted to increasing access to immunization in poor countries.

“During the first 15 years of the 21st century and the first five years of the SDGs, we had rapid progress, especially in the areas of global health that the foundation focuses most deeply on.”

Amid faltering SDG progress, however, “we are now at a stage, where, in 2024, the world has not gone back and has yet to achieve its 2019 vaccination rates.”




The distribution of WFP-provided aid resumes after its suspension since the killing on July 21 of the head of the UN agency's office in Taez in a shooting in a nearby city. (File/AFP)

And it is not only vaccination campaigns that have stagnated. Progress on beating hunger has also lagged — something the Goalkeepers report says could result in unimaginable human suffering if the world fails to act.

A lack of immediate global action on malnutrition linked to climate change is expected to condemn an additional 40 million children to stunting and 28 million more to wasting between 2024 and 2050, the report found.

A slowdown in foreign aid to the African continent — despite more than half of all child deaths occurring in sub-Saharan Africa — threatens to leave hundreds of millions of children at serious risk of dying or suffering from preventable diseases.

Malnutrition has receded from global awareness as other needs — like the wars in Gaza and Ukraine and the European migration crisis — have gained prominence.




Children react following an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Falluja near the Jabalia refugee camp in the norther Gaza Strip. (File/AFP)

“But our view is that these are all important priorities and they should not be at the expense of these critical long-term investments in global health,” said Suzman.

“And that’s one of the reasons why we picked nutrition this year. Because we highlight that as an area which has both been underinvested in historically, but actually has, we believe, the potential for some relatively low-cost, high-impact interventions now.”

One solution being deployed in Africa is food fortification, which, at relatively miniscule cost, has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives each year, according to the Goalkeepers report.

By adding nutrients to common ingredients like bouillon cubes and iodized salt, about 16.6 million cases of anemia could be prevented in Nigeria and 5,000 preventable deaths avoided in Ethiopia.




Goalkeeper, Sushama Das, (in red on the right) enjoys lunch with her family in Astaranga Village, Odisha State, India. (Gates Archive)

New technologies in the dairy industry to increase the amount of milk produced in Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania could prevent millions of cases of childhood stunting over the next 30 years, the report found.

The low-cost, high-stakes equation is at the heart of Suzman’s message in arguing for immediate intervention to end malnutrition.

“This is a true global crisis,” he said. “We’re talking about one in four children who do not get enough to eat and the effects are permanent. When you’ve suffered from stunting or wasting, your body and brain will never develop to its full potential.

“We have some data in the report that shows it’s not just about resilience and health. These children are less likely to stay in school.

IN NUMBERS

* 16.6m Anemia preventable in Nigeria with addition of nutrients to food.

* $3tn Estimated productivity loss globally owing to malnutrition.

* 50% Reduction in child mortality between 2000 and 2020.

“If you don’t stay in school, you’re less likely to have strong educational outcomes, you’re less likely to get a job and you’re more likely to live in poverty.

“And if you aggregate that up across societies, this is a long-term drag on economic and social prosperity, and we should not be allowing this to happen as a world.”

One method that the foundation is employing in its appeal to leaders and policy makers is constructing a macro view on malnutrition and other global health issues.

The Goalkeepers report underlines one statistic in particular that is likely to alarm policy makers — every year, more than $3 trillion in productivity is lost because of malnutrition, due to the combined loss in physical and cognitive abilities across human populations.

For low-income countries, the cost can be even greater, at 3-16 percent of gross domestic product. The result is that some of the world’s poorest countries must confront the equivalent of a permanent 2008-level recession every year, the report warned.




9-month-old Hafsat Abubakar is held by her mother, Safiya Ibrahim, at their home in the Sarkin Adar Gidan Igwai neighbourhood of Sokoto. (UNICEF)

By highlighting the economic toll of failing to act, Suzman has found a means to engage with government ministers and policy makers around the world. The numbers behind this human suffering “become more concrete if you’re trying to talk to a finance minister,” he said.

“The additional healthcare burden, for those who are malnourished — it’s a 20 year cycle. The returns on investing in a healthy child come through 20 years later when they become healthy, productive members of an economy. And that’s not something that politicians, if they’re focusing on the next year or two, will necessarily pay attention to.

“We’re really trying to highlight that because also it makes sense from an international aid perspective. You want to invest in long-term health and resilience of populations, because they’re more likely to then provide productive opportunities for their own citizens and build an all-round healthier world.

“Trying to highlight those numbers and that impact is exactly what this report is intended to do for policy makers and funders.”




A nurse registers women for prenatal consultations at the health center in Gisenyi, Rwanda on April 30, 2019. (Gates Archive)

Conflicts and humanitarian disasters often overlap with cases of malnutrition, said Suzman, highlighting the examples of famine-struck Gaza and Sudan. But the long-term building of development structures and health systems can help build resilience.

“The number of mothers and children facing malnutrition (in Gaza and Sudan) is just much higher than it should be and needs to be addressed urgently,” he said.

Suzman believes national and multilateral initiatives to provide urgent cash can offer a ray of hope amid persistent funding gaps. He said the Gulf states had been able to “play a true leadership role” through prudent and precise humanitarian investment.




Dr. Nsanzimana Sabin, the Minister of Health, personally administers the inaugural doses of Multiple Micronutrient Supplementation to a pregnant woman, symbolizing the commencement of a transformative healthcare initiative. (UNICEF)

In particular he highlighted the Lives and Livelihoods Fund, an initiative that provides affordable financing to the poorest 30 member countries of the Islamic Development Bank.

“We helped set it up with the governments of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar,” he said. “The fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced an additional $100 million contribution earlier this year, which we’re matching.

“That’s supporting efforts like rice resilience across West Africa or child mortality, maternal mortality investments also in some of these crisis situations.

“So, we hope that that type of partnership can actually help address crises both in the region and more broadly, while also using our voice to support the very important humanitarian efforts that are underway in the crisis situations.”




Displaced Sudanese who have returned from Ethiopia gather in a camp run by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Sudan's border town of Gallabat. (File/AFP)

Earlier this year, Gaza reported its first case of polio in 25 years. Its reemergence alarmed health officials and policy makers, coming decades after a global campaign to eradicate the virus saw significant success.

Suzman described the polio case as a “completely avoidable tragedy” that was precipitated by Israel’s ongoing military operation in the Palestinian enclave.

The conflict, as well as ongoing violence in Syria, Yemen and Sudan, are further examples of the ability of short-term crises to undermine long-term development efforts, he said.

“The Global Polio Eradication Initiative has stepped in to launch and now complete a critical vaccination campaign (in Gaza). We’ve actually seen that in other crises. The GPEI has also worked in Syria and Yemen. This is a challenge.”




The war which has raged since April 2023 between Sudan's regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has left tens of thousands dead and displaced more than ten million people, according to the United Nations. (File/AFP)

Suzman has particular praise for Saudi Arabia’s commitment of $500 million to the GPEI earlier this year, describing the donation as “really profoundly important.”

“We’re the largest global funders of polio campaigns, but Saudi Arabia is now very much one of the top funders and I think it’s an appreciation of the fact that we need to tackle these issues in all crisis situations, because you still have to vaccinate every child globally long as there are any cases circulating in any country,” he said.

“It’s a very good example of the broader challenges of health financing and the risks that stay with you if you take your eye off the ball. If you allow these things to happen, the consequences can be profound.”

The scale of the problem, as revealed by the Gates Foundation’s annual report, is both immense and intimidating, with far-reaching global consequences.




A young Palestinian man sits next to a mural that he painted on the rooftop of a destroyed house in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, to show his solidarity with the people of Gaza and Lebanon. (File/AFP)

Suzman, however, remains convinced that eradicating malnutrition, boosting health indicators and building climate resilience are not Sisyphean tasks, but achievable targets that can be realized through cheap, targeted investment.

“We want this report to be read by government leaders, policymakers, philanthropists and private sector leaders who work in this space,” he said.

“We want them both to understand the magnitude of the challenge and why malnutrition, actually, does affect them — understand connections, not just the humanitarian tragedy.”

What is his message to people with the power to effect change?




Portrait of Elena Swain, daughter of Goalkeeper, Sushama Das, with her son, Sraboni, in Astaranga Village, Odisha State, India. (Supplied)

“The scale of funding we’re talking about is very doable and achievable.”

The return on investment would not only save the lives of children in some of the world’s poorest and most conflict-ridden countries, but will, over the next two decades, build a “healthier and more resilient world,” he said.

“That’s the message we hope will come out. And we hope policymakers will listen to it.”


Ukraine fires UK Storm Shadow cruise missiles into Russia, a day after using US ATACMS

Ukraine fires UK Storm Shadow cruise missiles into Russia, a day after using US ATACMS
Updated 20 November 2024
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Ukraine fires UK Storm Shadow cruise missiles into Russia, a day after using US ATACMS

Ukraine fires UK Storm Shadow cruise missiles into Russia, a day after using US ATACMS
  • Biden let Ukraine use ATACMS two months before he leaves office
  • US closes embassy out of "abundance of caution" after airstrike scare

KYIV: Ukraine fired a volley of British Storm Shadow cruise missiles into Russia on Wednesday, the latest new Western weapon it has been permitted to use on Russian targets a day after it fired US ATACMS missiles.
The strikes were widely reported by Russian war correspondents on Telegram and confirmed by an official on condition of anonymity.
Moscow has said the use of Western weapons to strike into Russian territory far from the border would be a major escalation in the conflict. Kyiv says it needs the capability to defend itself by hitting Russian rear bases used to support Moscow’s invasion, which entered its thousandth day this week.
Russian war correspondent accounts on Telegram posted footage they said included the sound of the missiles striking in Kursk region. At least 14 huge explosions can be heard, most of them preceded by the sharp whistle of what sounds like an incoming missile. The footage, shot in a residential area, showed black smoke rising in the distance.
The pro-Russian Two Majors Telegram channel said Ukraine had fired up to 12 Storm Shadows into the Kursk region, and carried pictures of pieces of missile with the name Storm Shadow clearly visible.
A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said his office would not be commenting on reports or operational matters.
Britain had previously allowed Ukraine to use Storm Shadows within Ukrainian territory. The Kyiv government has been pressing Western partners for permission to use such weapons to strike targets deep inside Russia, and obtained the all-clear from US President Joe Biden to use the ATACMS this week, two months before Biden leaves office.
Biden’s successor, President-elect Donald Trump, has said he will end the war, without saying how. The warring sides have interpreted this as likely to involve a push for peace talks — not known to have been held since the war’s earliest months — and are trying to seize a strong position before negotiations.
The Storm Shadows have a range in excess of 250 km (155 miles) and would give Ukraine the ability to hit targets far deeper into Russia than before.
Kyiv says Moscow, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022, has previously taken advantage of limits on its use of weapons, particularly to strike Ukrainian cities from the air with heavy guided bombs.
Western countries say the arrival of more than 10,000 North Korean troops to fight for Russia in recent weeks was an escalation that merited a response.
The first use of the US ATACMS on Tuesday, fired at a Russian arsenal in the Bryansk region, prompted firm words from Moscow, which announced a change to its nuclear doctrine to lower the threshold for the use of atomic weapons. Washington has said it sees no need to adjust its own nuclear posture and accused Moscow of resorting to irresponsible rhetoric.
Military analysts have said the longer range missiles are unlikely to give Ukraine a decisive edge in the war but could help it strengthen its position, especially in the battle for a sliver of land inside Russia’s Kursk region it seized in August.

With tension higher over the use of the missiles, the United States shut its embassy in Kyiv on Wednesday morning “out of an abundance of caution” due to what it called the threat of a significant air attack.
Later, after an air raid siren in the early afternoon jangled nerves in the capital. Ukraine’s military spy agency ultimately said the threat was fake and accused Russia of trying to sow panic by circulating online messages about a looming missile and drone attack.
“The enemy, unable to subdue Ukrainians by force, resorts to measures of intimidation and psychological pressure on society. We ask you to be vigilant and steadfast,” it said.
A US government source said the embassy closure was “related to ongoing threats of air attacks.” The Italian and Greek embassies said they too had closed their doors. The French embassy remained open but urged its citizens to be cautious.
The Kremlin said it had no comment.
Russian foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin said in an interview published on Wednesday that Moscow would retaliate against NATO countries that facilitate long-range Ukrainian missile strikes against Russian territory.
The war is at a volatile juncture, with nearly a fifth of Ukrainian territory in Russian hands, North Korean troops deployed in Russia’s Kursk region and doubts over the future of Western aid under Trump, whose nominees for administration posts include skeptics of support for Kyiv.
On Sunday, Russia staged a missile and drone strike on Ukraine’s national power grid that killed seven people and renewed fears over the durability of the hobbled energy network.


Under-fire Spain minister defends state agencies’ role in floods

Under-fire Spain minister defends state agencies’ role in floods
Updated 20 November 2024
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Under-fire Spain minister defends state agencies’ role in floods

Under-fire Spain minister defends state agencies’ role in floods
  • Doubting state agencies was “deeply unfair and deeply dangerous,” Ribera told parliament
  • “I would like to thank the work and dedication of the public servants who issued the information as was their duty“

MADRID: Spain’s under-fire ecological transition minister, a candidate for a top European Commission post, on Wednesday said questioning the role of state agencies during the country’s devastating floods was “dangerous.”
The state weather and environment services have faced intense scrutiny over their response to the October 29 disaster that wreaked widespread destruction and killed 227 people.
The European Parliament has blocked Teresa Ribera’s appointment to an influential EU commission role encompassing environment and competition, with opponents accusing her of neglecting her duties during the floods.
Regions are in charge of disaster management in Spain’s decentralized political system, but the hardest-hit Valencia region’s conservative leader Carlos Mazon said he received “insufficient, inaccurate and late” information.
Doubting state agencies was “deeply unfair and deeply dangerous,” Ribera told parliament, in a veiled retort to the conservative opposition.
“I would like to thank the work and dedication of the public servants who issued the information as was their duty,” she added.
Mazon defended his handling of the catastrophe last week, citing an “information blackout” and criticizing a government agency responsible for monitoring river levels.
But Ribera said “there was never an information blackout” and enumerated a lengthy list of warnings issued by public bodies to the regional authorities.
Although the national weather agency issued the highest red alert in the morning of October 29, Valencia residents in many cases only received telephone warnings when water was already gushing through towns.
The socialist-led central government has argued Mazon bore responsibility for the late issuing of the emergency alert.
“Having all the necessary information is of little use if the one who must respond does not know how,” Ribera added.
The right-wing opposition Popular Party (PP) has accused the government of abandoning the Valencia region before and after the floods for political gain.
Anger has coursed through Spain over the authorities’ perceived mishandling of the country’s deadliest floods in decades and the ensuing political polarization has spilled over at EU level.
The conservative EPP parliamentary group to which the PP belongs refused to approve Spain’s nomination for the commission until she reported to the Spanish parliament.
“The European Commission does not deserve to come into existence with a candidate under suspicion,” PP leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo wrote on X.
The Socialists and Democrats group have complained that the Spanish right was trying to make Ribera “the scapegoat” for its own failure to manage the floods in Valencia.
By doing so, it was “pushing the entire European Union to the brink in the most irresponsible way,” it said.
Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Tuesday said his party always backed PP candidates for the commission and urged “reciprocity” from them.


Spain will legalize hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants in the next 3 years

Spain will legalize hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants in the next 3 years
Updated 20 November 2024
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Spain will legalize hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants in the next 3 years

Spain will legalize hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants in the next 3 years
  • The policy aims to expand the aging country’s workforce and allow foreigners living in Spain without proper documentation to obtain work permits and residency
  • Spain has largely remained open to receiving migrants even as other European nations seek to tighten their borders to illegal crossings and asylum seekers

MADRID: Spain will legalize about 300,000 undocumented migrants a year, starting next May and through 2027, the country’s migration minister said Wednesday.
The policy aims to expand the aging country’s workforce and allow foreigners living in Spain without proper documentation to obtain work permits and residency. Spain has largely remained open to receiving migrants even as other European nations seek to tighten their borders to illegal crossings and asylum seekers.
Spain needs around 250,000 registered foreign workers a year to maintain its welfare state, Migration Minister Elma Saiz said in an interview on Wednesday. She contended that the legalization policy is not aimed solely at “cultural wealth and respect for human rights, it’s also prosperity.”
“Today, we can say Spain is a better country,” Saiz told national broadcaster Radiotelevisión Española.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has often described his government’s migration policies as a means to combat the country’s low birthrate. In August, Sánchez visited three West African nations in an effort to tackle irregular migration to Spain’s Canary Islands.
The archipelago off the coast of Africa is seen by many as a step toward continental Europe with young men from Mali, Senegal, Mauritania and elsewhere embarking on dangerous sea voyages there seeking better job opportunities abroad or fleeing violence and political instability at home.
The new policy, approved Tuesday by Spain’s leftist minority coalition government, simplifies administrative procedures for short and long-term visas and provides migrants with additional labor protections. It extends a visa offered previously to job-seekers for three months to one year.
By mid-November, some 54,000 undocumented migrants had reached Spain this year by sea or land, according to the country’s Interior Ministry. The exact number of foreigners living in Spain without documentation is unclear.
Many irregular migrants make a living in Spain’s underground economy as fruit pickers, caretakers, delivery drivers, or other low-paid but essential jobs often passed over by Spaniards.
Without legal protections, they can be vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Saiz said the new policy would help prevent such abuse and “serve to combat mafias, fraud and the violation of rights.”
Spain’s economy is among the fastest-growing in the European Union this year, boosted in part by immigration and a strong rebound in tourism after the pandemic.
In 2023, Spain issued 1.3 million visas to foreigners, according to the government.


Danish military says it staying close to Chinese ship after data cable breaches

Danish military says it staying close to Chinese ship after data cable breaches
Updated 20 November 2024
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Danish military says it staying close to Chinese ship after data cable breaches

Danish military says it staying close to Chinese ship after data cable breaches
  • Chinese bulk carrier Yi Peng 3 was anchored in the Kattegat strait between Denmark and Sweden on Wednesday
  • “The Danish Defense can confirm that we are present in the area near the Chinese ship Yi Peng 3,” the military said

STOCKHOLM: The Danish military said on Wednesday that it was staying close to a Chinese ship currently sitting idle in Danish waters, days after two fiber-optic data telecommunication cables in the Baltic Sea were severed.
Chinese bulk carrier Yi Peng 3 was anchored in the Kattegat strait between Denmark and Sweden on Wednesday, with a Danish navy patrol ship at anchor nearby, MarineTraffic vessel tracking data showed.
“The Danish Defense can confirm that we are present in the area near the Chinese ship Yi Peng 3,” the military said in a post on social media X, adding it had no further comments.
It is quite rare for Denmark’s military to comment publicly on individual vessels traveling in Danish waters. It did not mention the cable breaches or say why it was staying with the ship.
The Chinese ship left the Russian port of Ust-Luga on Nov. 15 and was in the areas where the cable damages occurred, according to traffic data, which showed other ships to have been in the areas too.
One cable running between Sweden and Lithuania
was cut
on Sunday and another one between Finland and Germany was severed less than 24 hours later on Monday.
The breaches happened in Sweden’s exclusive economic zone and Swedish prosecutors started a preliminary investigation on Tuesday on suspicion of possible sabotage.
Swedish Civil Defense Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin told Reuters on Tuesday that the country’s armed forces and coast guard had picked up ship movements that corresponded with the interruption of two telecoms cables in the Baltic Sea.
A Chinese government spokesperson told a daily news briefing on Wednesday that it always required its vessels to abide by relevant laws and regulations.
“We also attach great importance to the protection of seabed infrastructure and, together with the international community, we are actively promoting the construction and protection of submarine cables and other global information infrastructures,” the spokesperson said.
Russia dismissed on Wednesday any suggestion that it had been involved in damaging the two cables.
European governments accused Russia on Tuesday of escalating hybrid attacks on Ukraine’s Western allies, but stopped short of directly accusing Russia of destroying the cables.
Asked about the matter on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a regular news briefing: “It is quite absurd to continue to blame Russia for everything without any reason.”


Pakistan’s ex-PM Imran Khan gets bail in state gifts case, his party says

Pakistan’s ex-PM Imran Khan gets bail in state gifts case, his party says
Updated 20 November 2024
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Pakistan’s ex-PM Imran Khan gets bail in state gifts case, his party says

Pakistan’s ex-PM Imran Khan gets bail in state gifts case, his party says
  • “If the official order is received today, his family and supporters will approach the authorities for his release,” one of his party’s lawyers, Salman Safdar, told journalists
  • Safdar added that, as far as he knew, Khan had been granted bail or acquitted in all the cases he faced

ISLAMABAD: A court in Pakistan granted bail to jailed former prime minister Imran Khan in a case relating to the illegal sale of state gifts, his party said on Wednesday.
Khan, 71, has been in prison since August 2023, but it was not immediately clear if the embattled politician would be released given that he faces a number of other charges too, including inciting violence against the state.
“If the official order is received today, his family and supporters will approach the authorities for his release,” one of his party’s lawyers, Salman Safdar, told journalists. Safdar added that, as far as he knew, Khan had been granted bail or acquitted in all the cases he faced.
However, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, a member of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party, told Geo TV Khan lacked bail in cases in which he is charged with planning riots by his supporters in the wake of his arrest in May last year.
Khan denies any wrongdoing, and alleges all the cases registered against him since he was removed from power in 2022 are politically motivated to keep him in jail.
The case in which he was granted bail on Wednesday by the Islamabad High Court is known as the Toshakhana, or state treasury case.
It has multiple versions and charges all revolving around allegations that Khan and his wife illegally procured and then sold gifts worth over 140 million rupees ($501,000) in state possession, which he received during his 2018-22 premiership.
Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, were both handed a 14-year sentence on those charges, following a three-year sentence handed to him in late 2023 in another version of the same case.
Their sentences have been suspended in appeals at the high court.
The gifts included diamond jewelry and seven watches, six of them Rolexes — the most expensive being valued at 85 million rupees ($305,000).
Khan’s wife was released last month after being in the same prison as Khan for months.