A Pakistani court has sentenced the nation’s former Prime Minister, Imran Khan, and his spouse, Bushra Bibi, to seven years in prison each for having breached the marriage law in 2018, according to court officials and the couple’s attorney. This ruling revolves around the violation of the ‘Iddah’ period in Islamic law, which mandates that a woman wait three months before remarrying.
The ex-First Lady, previously married to Khawar Maneka, asserted that their marital union ended in August 2017. However, Maneka contested this, claiming they only split in November 2017, which is less than three months before Bibi and Khan tied the knot in January 2018. Despite rejecting these allegations as baseless and politically motivated, Khan has already been barred from the upcoming parliamentary elections due to his legal convictions.
The couple were also fined 500,000 Rupees (approximately $1,800) each following a trial that took place at the Adiala jail where Khan currently resides for unrelated charges. The verdict concluded that the plaintiffs effectively demonstrated the pair’s participation in an unlawful marriage ceremony with deceitful intention.
This is just one of several legal setbacks bothering Khan. More recently, he, alongside his wife, was sentenced to 14 years on corruption charges. The day before that, he got an additional layer of punishment: a ten-year sentence for disclosing state secrets.
Currently, the ex-Prime Minister faces over 150 legal cases with a wide array of accusations, among them inciting violence and more corruption allegations. Khan, who was arrested in May 2023 for nationwide disturbances, blames the incumbent military leadership and the US for engineering these as part of a smear campaign because he seeks a Pakistani foreign policy less reliant on American influence.
In a public announcement on X (previously known as Twitter), Khan explained that the legal proceedings against him served only to create a narrative to hinder his quest for establishing Pakistan based on the principles of Riasat-e Madinah. He further insisted that all of his cases lacked any legal substance and merely served as political ammunition.
Since his deposition from power in 2022, Saturday’s verdict adds up to Khan’s fourth conviction, and his sentences now total 34 years, although he is projected to serve these concurrently.