https://arab.news/mhrwb
- Bushra Bibi faced the allegation of illegally retaining an expensive jewelry set from a state repository
- Islamabad High Court orders her release against a surety bond of Rs1 million after hearing the case
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court on Wednesday approved bail for former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, in a case involving allegations of illegally retaining a jewelry set from a state repository, though it remains unclear if she will be released from prison.
Both Khan and his wife are currently in jail on multiple charges, including the illegal sale of gifts worth more than 140 million rupees ($501,000) received during his 2018-2022 premiership from a state treasury known locally as the “Toshakhana.”
The case, also referred to as the new Toshakhana reference, pertains to a jewelry set comprising a ring, bracelet, necklace and earrings gifted to the former first lady by a foreign dignitary. The couple allegedly undervalued the set and retained it at a lower price.
A single-member bench headed by Justice Mian Gul Hassan Aurangzeb heard Bibi’s case earlier in the day and approved her bail against a surety bond of Rs1 million ($3,600).
“IHC Justice Mian Gul Hasan Aurangzeb accepted Bushra Bibi’s bail application against a bond of Rs1 million,” Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said in a post on the social media site X.
The party maintained the state machinery was used to “humiliate a woman,” adding that she had “fought courageously.”
Khan and his wife, already in prison at the time, were re-arrested on July 13 shortly after a district and sessions court ordered their immediate release, having accepted their appeals in another case against a ruling that they had violated the country’s marriage law.
The couple had been sentenced to seven years in prison and fined in February by a court that ruled their 2018 marriage violated the law. Bibi was accused of not completing the waiting period mandated by Islam, called “Iddat,” after divorcing her previous husband and marrying Khan.
At that point, two of Khan’s convictions had been suspended by the court, and he had been acquitted in the third, leaving the Iddat case as the only one keeping him in prison.
However, hours after the local court’s verdict in their favor, the new Toshakhana case was filed by Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau, and the former prime minister and his wife were re-arrested, ruling out the possibility of their release from jail.
Khan’s convictions had already disqualified him from the February 8 general elections, as convicted people cannot run for public office under Pakistani law.
Arguably the country’s most popular politician, he claims all cases against him are politically motivated to keep him out of politics.
– With input from Reuters