Imran Khan demands release from Islamabad High Court

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Islamabad

Pakistan’s Former Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested in Lahore on Saturday after being convicted in the Toshakhana corruption case by a trial court in Islamabad. Khan has filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court, challenging his conviction and three-year jail term.

His lawyers, Khwaja Haris and Gauhar Ali Khan have applied, arguing that the lower court judge’s decision in the Toshakhana case was against the law. Khan’s lawyers have requested the Islamabad High Court to issue an order for Khan’s release, suspending the sentence pending the central appeal.

Over 200 supporters of Imran Khan, including those opposing his arrest in a corruption case, have been arrested in Pakistan’s Punjab province. Khan, 70, was arrested at his Zaman Park residence on Saturday. Since Khan’s arrest, over 200 PTI party functionaries and workers have been arrested from different parts of the province.

Khan has been sentenced to three years in jail in the Toshakhana corruption case, and he has been kept in Attock Jail in Punjab province despite a court’s directive to send him to Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail. Khan’s Attorney General, Naeem Haider Panjotha, claims that he is living in very bad conditions, with flies hovering during the day and ants coming at night.

The Election Commission of Pakistan disqualified former Prime Minister Imran Khan on October 21 last year for making false statements and declaring false things in the Toshakhana case. This is the second time in three months that Khan has been arrested. Khan has more than 140 cases across the country and is accused of terrorism, violence, blasphemy, corruption, and murder.