ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Thursday granted bail to former prime minister Imran Khan in eight cases linked to riots in 2023 when his supporters allegedly attacked the country’s military and its installations, his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said.
The protests broke out on May 9, 2023, when Khan was first briefly arrested by the national anti-corruption agency, NAB, in a land bribery case popularly called the Al-Qadir trust case. The government says supporters of Khan’s PTI had attacked important state buildings and damaged vehicles during the riots and ransacked military facilities.
Nearly 2,000 people were arrested and at least eight killed. The government called out the army to help restore order.
Khan is charged with inciting the violence, among other cases related to the riots. He denies all charges.
“Supreme Court has granted bail to Imran Khan for May 9th cases,” the PTI said in a text message to media. “Now bail is needed in just one more case (Al-Qadir case) for Mr.Khan to come out of jail.”
Khan was handed 14 years imprisonment and his wife Bushra Khan seven in January in the Al-Qadir trust case, which involves charges that the couple was given land by a real estate developer during his premiership from 2018 to 2022 in exchange for illegal favors. Khan and Bibi had pleaded not guilty.
The Al-Qadir Trust is a non-government welfare body the couple set up when Khan was in office. Prosecutors say the trust was a front for Khan to illegally receive land from a real estate developer. They said he was given 60 acres (24 hectares) near Islamabad and another large plot close to his hilltop mansion in the capital.
Khan and the PTI say the land was not for personal gain and was for the spiritual and educational institution the former prime minister had set up. Khan says all cases against him are politically motivated.
Khan has been in jail since August 2023 when a court sentenced him to three years in prison for illegally selling state gifts while he was PM. The sentence barred the opposition leader from contesting in 2024 general elections.
