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PoliticsPakistan

Pakistan court grants bail to former PM Imran Khan

December 22, 2023

Khan and one of his aides were both granted bail in a case where they have been accused of leaking state secrets.

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Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan gestures as he speaks to the members of the media at his residence in Lahore, Pakistan May 18, 2023.
Pakistan's former Prime Minister Khan has been in jail since the summerImage: Mohsin Raza/REUTERS

Pakistan's Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to former Prime Minister Imran Khan in a case where he is accused of making public state secrets.

Khan's party's deputy leader, former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, was also granted bail.

The former prime minister was sentenced in the summer to three years in prison over graft charges. The sentence was suspended, but he remained in jail since August due to other charges against him, including the official Secrets Act case.

"The case has completely collapsed, and Imran Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi have finally been granted bail," lawyer Salman Safdar told reporters outside court.

Will Imran Khan be released from prison?

It is not yet clear whether Friday's bail decision would allow Khan to leave detention. Salman Safdar, one of his lawyers, told the Reuters news agency it the former prime minister has multiple arrest warrants issued against him in several other cases.

Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said he would remain in jail due to separate corruption charges and that there was little chance he would be able to take part in elections set for February 8.

Imran Khan's jail sentence: What are Pakistanis saying?

What is the case about?

Khan's trial relates to a classified cable that Pakistan's ambassador in Washington sent to Islamabad early last year. Khan is accused of making the cable public.

Khan denies the accusation. He says the cable's contents appeared in the media from other sources.

The former prime minister had argued that the diplomatic message was proof that the United States was conspiring with the Pakistani military to oust him in the 2022 no-confidence vote over his growing ties with Russia.

Both the US and the Pakistani military deny that.

rmt/sms (Reuters, DPA, AFP)