Former Pakistan Prime Minister Khan granted temporary bail for two weeks
Pakistan’s former Prime Minister and leader of the Pakistani Justice Movement Party (PTI), Imran Khan, has been granted temporary bail for two weeks by the Islamabad High Court. The decision comes after the Constitutional Court ruled Khan’s detention within the court complex as “illegal” and ordered his immediate release. Khan was arrested on May 9 by the decision of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) after accusing a senior intelligence official of being behind the assassination attempt against him. Earlier in 2022, the government of Imran Khan fell in the parliamentary vote of no confidence, and Shahbaz Sharif was elected as the new Prime Minister with the support of the absolute majority.
In addition, the former Prime Minister and his wife have been charged with corruption for buying billions of rupees worth of land from Pakistan’s major real estate tycoon in June 2022. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) stated that Khan’s PTI government made a deal with the tycoon, which caused more than $239 million in losses to the national treasury. Riaz agreed to hand over assets, including $239 million worth of property, to the UK’s National Crime Agency as part of an investigation into “black money” in December 2019. Pakistani Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah reported that British authorities returned $239 million to Pakistan, but Khan gave the money to Riaz instead of keeping it in the national treasury.
Khan’s arrest on May 9 resulted in protests across the country, causing nine deaths and damage to public property. Khan was wounded in both legs when his convoy was fired upon in Wazirabad on November 3, 2022, resulting in one person’s death and 13 injuries. On May 8, the Pakistani military dismissed Khan’s claims that a senior intelligence official was behind his assassination attempt as “irresponsible and unfounded”. The current bail granted to Khan is temporary, and the investigation regarding corruption charges against him and his wife is ongoing.
