Pakistani court allows ex-Premier Khan’s wife to move to jail

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) – A Pakistani court on Wednesday granted the request of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s wife seeking her transfer from their residence to the jail where her husband is incarcerated, a court document said.

Bushra Bibi, who is convicted in a couple of cases along with her husband, is currently incarcerated at their Banigala residence in the capital Islamabad — which had been declared a sub-jail.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC), in its verdict, declared the notification to convert Khan’s residence into a sub-jail null and void and ordered the authorities to move the former first lady to Adiala Jail in the northeastern garrison city of Rawalpindi.

The former first lady was taken into custody in late January after an Islamabad accountability court sentenced the couple to 14 years in jail in a case related to the illegal sale and purchase of foreign gifts that the two received during Khan’s nearly four-year stint as prime minister.

The two were also sentenced to 7 years in jail for violating the Islamic code while marrying in 2018.

In April, the IHC suspended their sentences in the foreign gifts case, but the two remain in custody in several other cases.

Khan, who was ousted through a no-trust vote in 2022, has been facing a slew of cases, which he terms a ”sham”.

His party appeared as the single largest group in the parliament in the Feb. 8 general elections but could not form the government after failing to find coalition partners.