The Islamabad High Court (IHC) is scheduled to hear former prime minister Imran Khan's appeal against his conviction in the Toshakhana—gift repository—case on Tuesday, November 7.
According to a cause list released on Saturday, a division bench consisting of IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri will preside over the appeal. The court has also issued a notice to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), a respondent in the case.
In a criminal complaint filed by the ECP, Imran Khan was convicted by a trial court on August 5 and sentenced to three years in prison for not disclosing the gifts he received from the official gifts repository in his annual statements of assets and liabilities.
On August 28, the IHC suspended the trial court's order.
On Tuesday, the same bench will also hear Imran's pleas for the reinstatement of his bail in the 160 million pounds case and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) investigation into the Toshakhana scandal. In both cases, PTI chairman's bail was revoked after his imprisonment in the Toshakhana case.
Read Imran leaves NAB after five-hour stay
Meanwhile, a trial court postponed arguments in a case seeking proceedings against Imran and his wife, Bushra Bibi, for cohabiting after their first nikah, which allegedly took place without the completion of the latter's mandatory iddat period.
During the hearing of the case, Special Prosecutor Rizwan Abbasi cited various decisions of the higher judiciary regarding the iddat period.
The prosecutor also raised objections to the absence of Imran's lead counsel in the case, Sher Afzal Marwat. Marwat's assistant informed the court that he was out of the country and would appear in court at the next hearing of the case. He requested the court to postpone the hearing without proceeding.
The court ordered both parties to present their arguments together and stated that the case would proceed after hearing the evidence from both sides. The court then adjourned until November 13.
The petitioner alleged that Bushra Bibi was divorced by her former husband in November 2017 and married Imran Khan on January 1, 2018, even though her iddat period had not been completed, which is against Sharia and Muslim norms.
He submitted in court the statements of Mufti Muhammad Saeed, who conducted the marriage between Imran and Bushra, and Awn Chaundhry, Imran's close friend, who was one of the witnesses.
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