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Pakistan court suspends conviction of former prime minister Imran Khan – JURIST

The Islamabad High Court on Tuesday suspended the conviction of Imran Khan. The former prime minister of Pakistan was previously convicted on corruption charges.In early August, Khan was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for unlawfully selling state gifts worth over 154 million PKR during his time as prime minister. A 100,000 PKR fine was also imposed on Khan for alleged false declarations of his assets to the Election Commission of Pakistan. Khan subsequently issued an appeal to the Islamabad High Court, claiming he was not given a right to defence. Khan’s lawyer, Naeem Panjutha, confirmed via social media that the court suspended the sentence.The Pakistan Tehreek-e-eInsaf (PTI) party, of which Khan is chairman, voiced their support of the sentence suspension on social media in a post that read, “He is Imran Khan, the hope of Pakistan, he does not stop, he does not bend, he stands firm!” Panjutah also expressed his support, issuing a statement following the ruling that simply stated, “Congratulations to the entire nation.”These events follow shortly after a separate case against Khan was quashed in Balochistan High Court on Monday. A sedition case against Khan was originally registered in Quetta in March, on the basis that one of Khan’s speeches was allegedly seditious, meaning it allegedly incited people to rebel against the authority of the state. These charges were held by the court to be “without lawful authority” and “of no legal affect.”Following the suspension of Khan’s corruption conviction, he is to remain in jail in connection with a separate Official Secrets Act case. This was announced when a special court ordered the former prime minister to remain in detention while a case concerning Khan’s involvement with a missing diplomatic cable is under investigation. Since Khan was removed from his position as prime minister by Parliament in April 2022, he has been the subject of countless legal cases. He still faces many accusations, including leaking state secrets and orchestrating violent protests.