ISLAMABAD (APP)- The legal team of PakistanJailed former prime minister Imran Khan on Friday appealed his recent convictions and sentences in three controversial legal cases, a defense lawyer said.
Khan was sentenced to a total of 31 years in prison in three separate verdicts in late January and early February during his trial in a Rawalpindi jail on charges of corruption, leaking official secrets and violating marriage laws. Khan’s lawyer Latif Khosa said appeals in all three cases were filed on Friday.
No clear winner was reported in the Pakistani election.
Khan’s supporters said the prosecutions were a politically motivated ploy to disqualify him from running in the country’s elections on February 8 to elect a parliament and ultimately a new prime minister.
Despite Khan’s legal troubles, the candidates supported by his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party, or PTI, won the most seats. However, no party has been able to secure a simple majority in the vote to govern alone, although Khan’s rivals have announced they are forming a coalition government.
Khan was sentenced to 10 years in prison on January 30 for leaking official secrets. Within the next few days, he was sentenced to 14 years for corruption and seven years for violating the marriage law.
Supporters of the Grand Democratic Alliance take part in a rally to protest vote rigging in some constituencies in the parliamentary elections, on the outskirts of Hyderabad, Pakistan, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024.
Khosa said that the appeals of those convicted for corruption and disclosure of official secrets have been filed in the Islamabad High Court, while the appeal against the conviction of Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi for violating the marriage law is pending. was filed in court.
Meanwhile, Khan’s PTI and several other political parties rallied on Friday against alleged rigging of the February 8 polls, with thousands gathering near the southern city of Hyderabad.
Khan’s party also issued a call for nationwide protests on Saturday. however, Islamabad Police in a statement on Friday warned the PTI and other political parties not to hold any rallies in the capital, where such gatherings have been banned since December for security reasons. Action will be taken against those violating the ban, the statement said.
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s party replaced him Khan’s rule After his ouster in a no-confidence vote in 2022, the coalition is finalizing a power-sharing deal to form a government.
Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party is in talks with former president Asif Ali Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party and allies to replace Khan in 2022.
Khan has been embroiled in more than 170 legal cases since his arrest in May 2023, including inciting people to violence. During nationwide riots in May, Khan’s supporters attacked military headquarters in Rawalpindi, stormed an air base in Mianwali province in eastern Punjab and torched a building of the state-run Radio Pakistan in the northwest.
The violence only subsided when Khan was released by the then Supreme Court.
Khosa said Khan’s legal team is seeking suspension of all three convictions and sentences given to Khan and his wife.