Pakistan’s top court has granted bail to former Prime Minister Imran Khan in cases tied to the May 9, 2023, violence that erupted after his arrest in Islamabad. The ruling by a three-judge bench offers major relief to the PTI chief, who continues to face multiple legal battles.
In a major relief for former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, the country’s Supreme Court on Thursday granted him bail in eight cases linked to the May 9, 2023 violence. The unrest broke out after Khan’s arrest in Islamabad, when his supporters allegedly resorted to rioting and vandalism that led to a wave of legal action against him and several senior leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
The three-member bench of the court, headed by Chief Justice Afridi along with Justices Shafi Siddiqui and Miangul Aurangzeb, announced the decision after hearing detailed arguments from Khan’s lawyer Salman Safdar and Punjab’s Special Prosecutor Zulfiqar Naqvi, who represented the state.
Khanโs PTI hailed the ruling, using the hashtag โVictory For Imran Khanโ in its post on X, while his international spokesman Zulfiqar Bukhari said the party supremo now needed bail in just one case.
Will Khan come out of jail now?ย
“The Supreme Court has granted bail to Imran Khan for May 9th cases, now bail is needed for just one more case (Al Qadir case) for Mr Khan to come out of jail,โ he said.ย As Bukhari said, Khan would not be released despite the latest relief due to his conviction in the Al-Qadir Trust case.
Earlier bail pleas rejected by courts
72-year-old Khanย had filed a petition for bail in a Lahore anti-terrorism court in the cases related to the May 9 riots, including an attack on the house of the Lahore corps commander, but it was rejected in November 2024.ย He challenged it in the Lahore High Court (LHC), but it also rejected the plea on June 24 this year.ย Following this, Khan challenged the dismissal of the bail plea before the top court.
Khan still in jail over graft case
Pakistan’s former Prime Ministerย has been facing multiple other cases filed against him after his removal from office in April 2022.ย He has been imprisoned since August 2023 and is currently serving a sentence at Rawalpindi’s high-security Adiala Jail in the 190 million pounds Al-Qadir graft case.
(With inputs from PTI)
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