Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s wife granted bail in state gifts case
It’s unclear if Bushra Bibi will be freed or kept in prison on other charges she faces
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Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan’s wife was given bail on Wednesday in a case involving the sale of state gifts, local media reported.
Mr Khan and Bushra Bibi are jailed on a multitude of charges, one of which involves the alleged sale of gifts worth more than Rs140m (£386,300), received during Mr Khan’s premiership between 2018 and 2022, from a state treasury known locally as "Toshakhana".
It was not immediately clear if Ms Bibi would be freed or kept in prison on the other charges brought against her.
She was given bail by the Islamabad High Court against surety bonds of PKR1m (£2,773), the media reports said. She had moved the court on 3 October seeking bail in the new Toshkana case related to the sale of jewellery.
In the petition for bail, Ms Bibi’s advocate Yousaf Chaudhry contended that she was a homemaker and so the allegations against her were baseless, The News reported.
Mr Chaudhry also said the investigation was not transparent and the case was aimed at keeping Ms Bibi in jail.
Justice Mian Gul Hassan Aurangzeb granted the bail after a Federal Investigation Agency officer said further interrogation of Ms Bibi was not required.
Mr Khan and his wife have been held in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail since 2023. Mr Khan has been sentenced to three years in prison in an alleged corruption case and faces nearly 150 charges in all, which he and his party maintain are politically motivated.
Mr Khan is barred from seeking political office as a consequence of his imprisonment. His party was prohibited from contesting the national election in February which it said was rigged.
Mr Khan and his wife were arrested by the National Accountability Bureau in a fresh Toshakhana case in July, just hours after their acquittal in a separate case.
They were convicted in another case on 3 February after a complaint from Ms Bibi’s former husband claimed her marriage to Mr Khan violated Muslim family law which requires a widow or divorcee to observe “iddah”, a waiting period, before remarrying. The judge fined Mr Khan and Ms Bibi PKR500,000 (£1,420) and sentenced both to seven years in jail.
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