Imran Khan to be released on bail as Pakistan court suspends Toshakhana case verdict

Pakistan district and sessions court had sentenced Khan to 3 years in prison in the Toshakhana case for illegally selling state gifts and had barred him from politics for 5 years.

Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan | Reuters file photo

Islamabad: A Pakistan court on Tuesday directed authorities to release Imran Khan on bail after it suspended the conviction and jail term of the country’s former Prime Minister in a case involving state gifts.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has suspended the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman’s conviction and three-year jail sentence in the Toshakhana case, Dawn news reported today.

The bench comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahan­giri on the former prime minister’s appeal against his prison term announced the much-anticipated order, that comes months ahead of the national elections in the country.

According to Dawn News, the trial court in Islamabad had convicted the PTI chief in the case filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) that involved concealing details of state gifts and jailed him for three years. The verdict meant he was disqualified from contesting general elections for five years.

Imran had subsequently filed an appeal in the high court against his conviction. He had also approached the Supreme Court (SC) against the IHC’s decision to remand the case back to the trial court judge who had convicted him.

Pakistan district and sessions court on August 5, sentenced Imran Khan to three years in prison in the Toshakhana case i.e. for illegally selling state gifts and disqualified him from politics for a period of five years, local media reported. He was lodged in Attock Jail in Punjab province in the country.

The PTI Chairman was arrested from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore soon after being convicted in the Toshakhana case. The court also imposed a fine of Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 100,000 on Imran Khan, Geo News reported. Khan, who has expressed his disappointment over being in jail and said that he doesn’t want to stay there, Pakistan-based Geo News reported.

The PTI Chairman Imran Khan had also stated that he remains holed up inside his prison cell in “distressing” conditions, as per the sources. (ANI)