Wife of former Pakistani PM Khan released from prison

Islamabad

Pakistani authorities released former Prime Minister Imran Khan's wife from prison on Thursday, almost nine months after the couple were convicted over corruption allegations.

Former first lady Bushra Bibi has been allowed to leave Adiala prison, near Islamabad, a day after a federal high court approved her bail application.

Leaders of the Khans Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI, party said Bibi went to her residence on the outskirts of the Pakistani capital after her release.

Welcome back to Bushra Bibi! wrote the PTI on its social media platform X.

Khan, 72, and Bibi were sentenced to 14 years in prison in January for illegally possessing and selling state gifts received during his term from 2018 to 2022. They were later convicted and received additional sentences in several other cases, including marriage charges.

However, appeals courts overturned or suspended all convictions and sentences in the months that followed, but Pakistani authorities refused to release the couple, instead announcing new charges against them in July related to new allegations selling state gifts worth more than half a million dollars.

Khan denies wrongdoing and rejects more than 150 lawsuits as political victimization by the country's military-backed government to prevent him from returning to national politics, charges denied by his successors and officials military.

The cricket star turned prime minister was ousted from power by an opposition parliamentary vote of no confidence 18 months ago before being jailed in August 2023.

FILE – Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, right, and his wife, Bushra Bibi, speak to the media outside a court in Lahore, Pakistan, July 17, 2023.

Legal battles and subsequent convictions prevented Khan from holding public office. His party was banned from participating in February's national elections.

Khan maintains the vote was rigged to prevent his party from winning the vote and allow his rivals to form a coalition government with the help of the military.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's government and military officials reject the allegations.

Call from US lawmakers

Meanwhile, Pakistan on Thursday criticized a letter sent to President Joe Biden by more than 60 Democratic lawmakers in the US House of Representatives, urging him to secure the release of Khan and all other political prisoners.

We believe that such letters and statements are counterproductive and do not correspond to the positive dynamics of bilateral relations between Pakistan and the United States, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Baloch said during her weekly press conference in Islamabad. These letters are also based on a flawed understanding of the political situation in Pakistan, she added.

Baloch made his comments after the group of US congressmen expressed concerns to Biden over Khan's incarceration and alleged widespread human rights violations in Pakistan.

“At a minimum, we ask your administration to urgently obtain assurances from the Pakistani government for Khan's safety and well-being and urge U.S. Embassy officials to visit him in prison,” it read in the letter to Biden. He describes Khan as a political leader “enjoying wide support in the country”.

The letter notes that Pakistan's parliamentary elections in February were marked by a historic level of irregularities, including widespread electoral fraud, state-led efforts to disenfranchise voters, and arrest and detention of political leaders, journalists and activists.

“More broadly, developments since the February vote indicate a clear shift toward authoritarianism in the country,” the letter said. “Simply put, Pakistan's current system amounts to 'military rule with a civilian facade,'” states the letter written by Rep. Greg Casar and the group's co-leaders, Reps. Jim McGovern and Summer Lee.

Pakistan's military has staged three coups and placed the country under more than three decades of dictatorial rule since its independence in 1947. The powerful security institution and its intelligence units are constantly accused of interfering in national politics and to orchestrate the formation or breakdown of elected governments. .

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