Imran Khan, Bushra Bibi approach SC against sentences in £190 million corruption case

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi on Monday filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) decision to reject the suspension of their sentences in the £190 million corruption case, seeking their immediate release on bail. Both Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi through their lawyer submitted that the IHC’s ruling issued last month, in which the court dismissed their applications for suspension of sentence, observing that the main appeals against their convictions had already been fixed for hearing. In their appeal before the Supreme Court, the petitioners submitted that the IHC admitted the case as maintainable but failed to properly examine the legal and factual grounds raised by the defence. They contend that the court erred in rejecting the suspension applications without carrying out a preliminary assessment of the evidence, maintaining that such an examination is permissible under the law while deciding requests for suspension of sentence. They further said that both accused had remained on bail during the trial proceedings and claims that the allegations against them lacked merit. It also alleges that repeated adjournments sought by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) delayed the appellate proceedings and prolonged their incarceration. The petitioners also said that the health conditions of both Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi during imprisonment. It states that Imran Khan developed an eye ailment while in custody and required medical treatment outside the jail, arguing that continued detention despite health concerns is unjustified. The petition also alleged that Imran Khan suffered severe mental distress due to solitary confinement and reiterates the defence’s position that his arrest was unlawful, referring to an earlier court order that declared his detention illegal. On the question of jurisdiction, the petition argues that the accountability proceedin