ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi appealed against their convictions for graft on Monday, his lawyer said.
Khan, 72, has been held in custody since August 2023 charged in around 200 cases that he claims are politically motivated.
The former cricketing star was sentenced to 14 years in jail and his wife to seven this month in the latest case to be brought against them.
“We have filed appeals today and in the next few days it will go through clerical processes and then it will be fixed for a hearing,” Khan’s lawyer Khalid Yousaf Chaudhry told AFP outside Islamabad High Court.
Khan has been convicted four times since his arrest, with two convictions overturned and the sentences in the other two cases suspended.
A special graft court found the pair guilty of “corruption and corrupt practices” over a welfare foundation they established together called the Al-Qadir Trust.
The court hearing for the case was postponed three times and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said earlier it was being used to pressure him into cutting a deal with the government to step back from politics.
Khan alleged before the conviction that he had been “indirectly approached” about the possibility of house arrest at his sprawling home on Islamabad’s outskirts.
Bibi, a faith healer who married Khan shortly before he was elected in 2018, is being held at the same jail as her husband in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, close to the capital Islamabad.
Khan’s popularity continues to undermine a shaky coalition government that kept PTI from power in elections last year.
Even from behind bars, Khan has fired off statements through his legal team railing against the government and promising to fight his battles through the courts.
Sometimes violent protests have paralyzed Islamabad in recent months and the party has announced further rallies next month to mark one year since elections that were marred by allegations of rigging.
Khan called off talks with the government last week aimed at easing political tensions.
Ousted from power by a no-confidence vote in 2022, the former cricket star has since launched an unprecedented campaign in which he has openly criticized Pakistan’s powerful generals.
Analysts say the military’s leaders are Pakistan’s kingmakers, although the generals deny interfering in politics.
A UN panel of experts found last year that Khan’s detention “had no legal basis and appears to have been intended to disqualify him from running for political office.”
Khan was barred from standing in last February’s election and his PTI party was hamstrung by a widespread crackdown.
PTI won more seats than any other party but a coalition considered more pliable to the military’s influence shut them out of power.
Ex-PM Khan, wife appeal Pakistan graft convictions
https://arab.news/vcsg4
Ex-PM Khan, wife appeal Pakistan graft convictions
- Khan has been convicted four times since his arrest in Aug. 2023, with two convictions overturned and the sentences in the other two cases suspended
- A graft court this month found Khan and his wife guilty of ‘corruption’ over a welfare foundation they established together called the Al-Qadir Trust
Pakistan says repaid over $13.06 billion domestic debt early in last 14 months
- Finance adviser says repayment shows “decisive shift” toward fiscal discipline, responsible economic management
- Says Pakistan’s total public debt has declined from over $286.6 billion in June 2025 to $284.7 billion in November 2025
KARACHI: Pakistan has repaid Rs3,650 billion [$13.06 billion] in domestic debt before time during the last 14 months, Adviser to the Finance Minister Khurram Schehzad said on Thursday, adding that the achievement reflected a shift in the country’s approach toward fiscal discipline.
Schehzad said Pakistan has been repaying its debt before maturity, owed to the market as well as the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), since December 2024. He said the government had repaid the central bank Rs300 billion [$1.08 billion] in its latest repayment on Thursday.
“This landmark achievement reflects a decisive shift toward fiscal discipline, credibility, and responsible economic management,” Schehzad wrote on social media platform X.
Giving a breakdown of what he said was Pakistan’s “early debt retirement journey,” the finance official said Pakistan retired Rs1,000 billion [$3.576 billion] in December 2024, Rs500 billion [$1.78 billion] in June 2025, Rs1,160 billion [$4.150 billion] in August 2025, Rs200 billion [$715 million] in October 2025, Rs494 billion [$1.76 billion] in December 2025 and $1.08 billion in January 2026.
He said with the latest debt repaid today, the July to January period of fiscal year 2026 alone recorded Rs2,150 billion [$7.69 billion] in early retirement, which was 44 percent higher than the debt retired in FY25.
He said of the total early repayments, the government has repaid 65 percent of the central bank’s debt, 30 percent of the treasury bills debt and five percent of the Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIBs) debt.
The official said Pakistan’s total public debt has declined from over Rs 80.5 trillion [$286.6 billion] in June 2025 to Rs80 trillion [$284.7 billion] in November 2025.
“Crucially, Pakistan’s debt-to-GDP ratio, around 74 percent in FY22, has declined to around 70 percent, reflecting a broader strengthening of fiscal fundamentals alongside disciplined debt management,” Schehzad wrote.
Pakistan’s government has said the country’s fragile economy is on an upward trajectory. The South Asian country has been trying to navigate a tricky path to economic recovery under a $7 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund.
