Top court to hear appeals of PTI's Omar, Shibli

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court has fixed for hearing the appeals filed by opposition leaders in the Senate and National Assembly, Shibli Faraz and Omar Ayub, against their disqualification.

A five-member constitutional bench (CB) headed by Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan will hear the case on October 27.

Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Shakeel Ahmad are also part of the bench.

A special Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Faisalabad on July 31 sentenced senior PTI leaders Omar Ayub Khan, Shibli Faraz, Zartaj Gul, and Hamid Raza to 10 years in prison for inciting violence on May 9, 2023 after the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan.

On August 5, the ECP disqualified nine lawmakers affiliated with the (PTI, including Senate Opposition Leader Shibli Faraz and National Assembly Opposition Leader Omar Ayub.

On August 25, the ATC in Faisalabad sentenced the two PTI leaders and dozens of others each to 10 years in prison in another case involving an attack on PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah's residence during May 9, 2023 riots.

The PTI leaders had first approached the Peshawar High Court (PHC) which dismissed their appeals as non-maintainable on the grounds that they had not surrendered before the court. Omar Ayub and Shibli Faraz—both from the PTI—later challenged their disqualification in the Supreme Court.