Imran Khan, Bushra Bibi move IHC against arrest in new Toshakhana reference

Islamabad: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi have challenged their arrest in a new Toshakhana reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

The legal woes of the former prime minister and his spouse refused to die down following the couple's arrest in the fresh NAB reference related to state gifts, which came just hours after their acquittal in the iddat case last week — also known as the un-Islamic nikah case — which was the last hurdle in their release from jail.

In the petition filed in the IHC against the arrests, Khan has nominated the chairman, director general and other officers of the anti-graft watchdog as respondents.

“The petitioners have been arrested in violation of law, Constitution and fundamental rights,” the petition stated.

It maintained that Khan and Bushra had been “illegally” remanded into NAB’s custody while their arrest had affected the fundamental rights of “liberty and pre-arrest”.

On July 13, a team of the anti-corruption watchdog headed by Deputy Director Mohsin Haroon had arrested Khan and Bushra from the Adiala Jail in the new reference related to alleged "misuse of power for acquiring Toshakhana gifts".

The NAB team rearrested Bushra Bibi after she was released from Adiala Jail's Gate No 3, following her exoneration in the iddat case.

Subsequently, an accountability court on Sunday approved eight-day physical remand each of the PTI founder and his wife in the fresh graft reference.

Khan has been behind bars since August last year after he was sentenced in the Toshakhana criminal case and subsequently sentenced in other cases ahead of the February 8 elections.

Although the former PM has been granted bail in several May 9 cases registered in Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Faisalabad, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) last week cancelled his bail 12 May 9 cases registered against him and thousands of his supporters in connection with violence against the military and other state installations that erupted following his arrest in May 2023.

In June, the Islamabad High Court overturned Khan's conviction on charges of leaking state secrets in the cipher case wherein he was handed down a 10-year prison sentence on charges of making public a classified cable sent to Islamabad by Pakistan's ambassador in Washington in 2022.

Also, the ex-premier Khan was given jail sentences — one of 14 years and the other three years — in two cases pertaining to illegally acquiring and selling state gifts. Both sentences have been suspended by high courts while his appeals are heard — however, the conviction in both cases still stands.