Imran's sentence suspension plea in £190m case rejected

The capital's high court has disposed of pleas of former prime minister Imran Khan and his spouse Bushra Bibi seeking suspension of their sentences in the £190 million case.

The court will, however, take up the couple's main appeals against their conviction and sentencing in the corruption case on Thursday, May 7.

On Monday, a division bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), comprising Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Asif, took up Imran's and Bushra's applications for suspension of their sentences.

Barrister Salman Safdar appeared on behalf of the former PM and his wife, who are detained at Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail, and urged the bench to decide the sentence suspension pleas first.

The court, however, rejected the request. It observed that since the principal appeals had already been fixed for hearing, there was no justification to separately take up the suspension pleas.

It ruled that the suspension of sentence pleas had become infructuous following the scheduling of the main appeals. According to the written order, the court decided the applications in light of the Supreme Court's directives.

It noted that counsel for the petitioners strongly insisted on first deciding the suspension pleas; however, to ensure no party was treated unfairly, the applications were disposed of accordingly.

The bench directed lawyers for both sides to ensure their presence on May 7 and to come fully prepared to present arguments at the next hearing.

In January last year, an accountability court in Islamabad convicted Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi in the £190 million case, sentencing Imran to 14 years in prison and his wife to a seven-year jail term.