Islamabad, July 13: Despite their acquittal in the Iddat case, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his spouse Bushra Bibi were “arrested in a new reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) related to Toshakhana gifts” on Saturday.
The NAB arrested the couple hours after they were acquitted by an Islamabad court in the Iddat case.
Details of the case, however, have not been made public so far.
The development came hours after a district and sessions court in Islamabad acquitted the former Prime Minister and his spouse in the Iddat case — also known as the un-Islamic nikah case — which was the last hurdle in the couple’s release from jail.
The court accepted the couple’s pleas seeking annulment of their conviction in the iddat case. Additional Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka announced in a short order reserved earlier in the day.
Khan and Bushra were sentenced to seven years in prison and awarded a fine of Rs500,000 each, in February this year after a trial court found their nikah to be fraudulent as Khawar Maneka, Bushra’s ex-husband, moved the court against the couple’s marriage.
The Iddat case was the last existing legal case keeping the PTI founder in jail.
His sentences in the two Toshakhana cases were suspended while he was acquitted by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in the cipher case. Various courts have also acquitted him in several other cases filed against him since the events of May 9, 2023 — the day when his first arrest had caused riots across the country, following which the state launched a crackdown against him and his party.
The IHC in May also approved Imran’s bail application in the 190 million pound corruption case, saying that the investigation into the matter was complete and the PTI founder’s “continued incarceration” would not serve any purpose.
On Saturday, a team of the anti-corruption watchdog headed by Deputy Director Mohsin Haroon arrested the couple in the Adiala Jail in the new reference related to alleged “misuse of power for acquiring Toshakhana gifts”.
The NAB team rearrested Bushra Bibi after she was released from Adiala Jail’s Gate No 3 to fulfil the legal obligations. The former first lady will remain incarcerated at the Rawalpindi prison.
PTI lawyer Intazar Panjutha confirmed the development, saying that the ex-premier’s wife was rearrested soon after she came out of prison via its Colony Gate.
Talking to media in Rawalpindi, PTI leader Omar Ayub said that the court ordered Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi’s release in the Iddat case but they were implicated in another ‘fabricated’ case.
He lamented that the PTI founder and his wife were not released despite the court’s orders at the “behest of the fascist government”.
“Bushra Bibi was brought out in the car and then taken inside the jail. A fabricated case has been made against her,” he added.
He said that the country has been made into a banana republic, extremes are being done.
Omar Ayub said that the jail administration also kept their counsel lawyer, Intazar Panjhota, hostage.
