Imran Khan’s detention extended for 14 days despite graft case suspension

Former prime minister remains in custody over an ongoing case under Pakistan’s Official Secrets Act

The detention of Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan has been extended for two weeks over a case involving the leaking of state secrets, said his lawyer.

The proceedings on Wednesday were held at Attock Jail in Punjab province where Khan was serving three-year sentence in a separate graft case that was suspended just a day earlier.

Though the Islamabad high court ordered that he be released on a surety bond of $328 in the now-suspended conviction, he remained in custody due to the ongoing case under the country’s Official Secrets Act.

Khan has been charged in that case for leaking the contents of a confidential cable sent by Pakistan’s ambassador to the US, using it for political gain, a Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) official told Reuters on the condition of anonymity.

One of Khan’s top aides, former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, has already been arrested in the same case.

Khan alleged the cable proved his removal from office was at the behest of the US, which he said spurred Pakistan’s military to topple his government because he had visited Russia shortly before its attack on Ukraine.

Both the US and the Pakistani military have denied this.

The 70-year-old cricketer-turned-politician is facing scores of other charges brought since he was ousted from power.

They range from terrorism and encouraging assaults on state institutions – after his supporters attacked military and government installations in May – to abetment to murder following the slaying of a Supreme Court lawyer in June.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader has been in prison since 5 August, after being found guilty on charges of unlawfully selling state gifts during his tenure as prime minister from 2018 to 2022.

As a result of his conviction, the international cricketer-turned-politician was also barred from contesting elections for the next five years.

Pakistan is due to hold a general election in the coming months.

While the conviction has been suspended, Khan is set to face a retrial in the case on a later date, according to Islamabad-based legal expert Hashmat Habib. He will be able to contest elections only if his conviction is set aside, reported Reuters.

Khan has denied the charges against him, insisting he did not violate any rules.

“Our application has been accepted, and the sentence has been suspended,” his lawyer Naeem Panjutha said on X, formerly Twitter.

Earlier on Monday, the Balochistan High Court quashed a sedition case against the former leader.

Prosecutors had failed to obtain the required consent from the federal or provincial government to lodge sedition charges, said the court in its order.

Khan was ousted from power through a no-confidence vote in parliament last year.

It came after he fell out of favour with Pakistan’s influential military, which was widely viewed as backing him when he first came to power in 2018.

Since his ouster, Khan has been wounded in an assassination attempt, but his continued attempts to rally popular support have stirred political turmoil in a country already struggling through one of its worst economic crises.