ISLAMABAD: A Pakistan court on Saturday ruled former prime minister Imran Khan’s marriage to his third wife illegal under Islamic law and sentenced the pair to seven years each in jail, his party said.
It is the third verdict in a week to attack the former international cricket star’s reputation, after he was given concurrent prison sentences of 10 years for leaking state secrets and 14 years for graft alongside his wife Bushra Bibi.
Khan, who was booted from office by a vote of no confidence in April 2022, insists nearly 200 offenses he has since been charged with have been fabricated by the military-led establishment to stop him from contesting elections on February 8.
The latest conviction centers on an Islamic law known as “iddat,” which dictates that a widowed or divorced woman must wait three months before remarrying, to leave no doubt about who the father is in the instance of a pregnancy.
“A court has declared the marriage of former prime minister Imran Khan & Busra Bibi illegal with 7 years imprisonment each,” his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said in a statement.
“This shameful case is illogical. All of this is happening for political goals,” said Khan’s lawyer Gohar Ali Khan, adding that the conviction and jail terms would be challenged in court.
Khan has been imprisoned in Rawalpindi for months, while Bibi surrendered this week and is being held at her home, declared a “sub-jail,” on the outskirts of the capital Islamabad.
“The charges of corruption and now these ones are an attempt to raise moral questions on his character,” lawyer Sabahat Rizvi, who was not involved in the case, told AFP Saturday.
“They are targeting him because they could not diminish his aura.”
Khan rose to power in 2018 with the backing of the military, but has been sidelined after losing their favor and waging a campaign of defiance against them.
The PTI has been severely hamstrung ahead of the vote, with scores of leaders jailed, supporters barred from holding rallies, and the party stripped of its talisman cricket bat symbol.
Few journalists have been given access to the court, but The Nation said Saturday the couple insisted they had waited the proper time before marrying.
The complaint against the marriage was raised in November last year by Khawar Maneka, Bibi’s ex-husband.
“The divorce deed presented by Khawar Maneka is a fabricated document,” The Nation newspaper reported Bibi as saying in a statement Friday to a special court session at Adiala jail, where Khan is being held.
“Khawar Maneka gave me a triple divorce in April 2017,” it quoted Bibi’s statement as saying.
“Imran Khan and I solemnized our marriage on January 1, 2018.”
The newspaper said the couple questioned why Maneka had waited so long to make his complaint, arguing he only raised the issue last year after being detained in a graft case.
Oxford-educated Khan earned a reputation as a playboy during his cricket-playing bachelor days, frequently photographed alongside society beauties and models.
His first marriage to Jemima Goldsmith — the daughter of a British multimillionaire — ended in divorce.
He then married Reham Nayyar, a television journalist who published a kiss-and-tell memoir after they divorced within a year.
Bibi, his third wife, rarely appears in public and wears a face-covering hijab when she does.
Pakistan court finds ex-PM Imran Khan’s marriage illegal
https://arab.news/z52p4
Pakistan court finds ex-PM Imran Khan’s marriage illegal
- Third verdict in a week to attack the former international cricket star’s reputation
Europe to launch international commission for Ukraine war damages
- The two-year-old Register of Damage , which will become part of the commission, has received more than 80,000 claims submitted by individuals, organisations and public bodies in Ukraine under a wide range of categories
THE HAGUE: European leaders including Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskiy meet in The Hague on Tuesday to launch an International Claims Commission to compensate Kyiv for hundreds of billions of dollars in damage from Russian attacks and alleged war crimes.
The one-day conference, co-hosted by the Netherlands and the 46-nation Council of Europe, the continent's top rights group, was to be attended by dozens of senior figures including European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.
The meeting coincides with ongoing U.S.-backed peace diplomacy aimed at stopping the war, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Hague-based commission to assess Ukraine's claims over Russia's invasion
• Over 80,000 claims submitted to Register of Damage
• World Bank estimates $524 billion needed for Ukraine reconstruction
• European leaders expected to sign convention on Tuesday
• Ukrainian President Zelenskiy expected to attend one-day conference
Russian officials were not immediately reachable to comment on the plan, but have repeatedly rejected allegations that Russian forces committed war crimes during the conflict.
POSSIBLE AMNESTY IN PEACE DEAL
The possible inclusion of an amnesty for wartime atrocities in a peace deal, which was at one point proposed by the administration of President Donald Trump, could complicate Europe's plans to also compensate victims of abuses in Ukraine ranging from sexual violence and child deportations to destruction of religious sites.
The two-year-old Register of Damage , which will become part of the commission, has received more than 80,000 claims submitted by individuals, organisations and public bodies in Ukraine under a wide range of categories.
More than 50 states and the European Union have drafted a Council of Europe convention to create the commission, which will take force after it has been ratified by 25 signatories, as long as sufficient funds have been secured to finance the work.
Dozens of countries have already indicated support for the commission, likely to be based in The Hague. As many as 35 nations have indicated they will sign the convention at Tuesday's meeting, a source familiar with the discussions said.
The commission - the second part of an international compensation mechanism for Ukraine - will review, assess and decide on claims submitted to the Register of Damage for Ukraine, which was created by the Council of Europe in 2023, and determine compensation awards on a case-by-case basis.
Claims can be filed for damage, loss or injury caused by Russian acts committed in or against Ukraine on or after the February 24, 2022 invasion. The claims, which cover violations of international law, can be brought by affected individuals, companies or the Ukrainian state, a draft of the proposal said.
$524 BILLION FOR POST-WAR RECONSTRUCTION
The World Bank has estimated the cost of reconstruction in the coming decade at $524 billion (447 billion euros), or nearly three times Ukraine's economic output in 2024. But that figure is through December 2024 only and does not include damage caused this year, when Russian attacks escalated as part of a campaign targeting utilities, transport and civilian infrastructure.
Details on how any damages awarded by the commission would be paid still need to be worked out, but the source said Russian assets frozen by the EU were among the options being discussed.
The Council of Europe was founded in 1949 to promote democracy, human rights and the rule of law across the continent and is its oldest intergovernmental organisation.
