A Pakistan court has exonerated former Prime Minister, Imran Khan and his wife on Saturday over the charges of unlawful marriage. This development is coming a day after his party won a lot more seats in parliament, ramping up pressure on the country’s fragile government.
The couple were sentenced to prison for seven years back in February when a court found them guilty of breaking Islamic law by failing to adhere to the required interval between Bibi’s divorce from a previous marriage and her present marriage to Khan.
At this time, it is not immediately clear whether Khan and Bibi, who are both in jail, would be released following Saturday’s decision.
All four jail sentences levelled against Khan have now been overturned and suspended and the The troubled leader, who has been in jail since August, was exculpated this month from the charges of leaking state secrets.
The other two sentences have been suspended.
Khan has been named as an accused party in several other cases, including the one violence against the state. His wife, Bibi also stands as an accused party on at least one other charge of the couple accepting land as a bribe from a real estate developer when Khan was in office.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) –Khan’s party– have warned that keeping the distressed leader in jail to grant him bail on Saturday would lead to another political crisis.
Why It Matters
While the court’s decision today has exonerated Imran Khan and his wife from the unlawful marriage charges, their other legal battles still continue.
The public’s reaction to Imran Khan and his wife’s acquittal in the illegal marriage case has been mixed, with some viewing this a positive development, while others have expressed skepticism due to Imran Khan’s other legal battles.
