Bushra Bibi, the wife of Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan, has been released from prison nearly nine months after the couple was sentenced in a case linked to the illegal sale of state gifts.
Bibi was released from Adiala jail in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Thursday after being granted bail the previous day by the Islamabad High Court, Naeem Haider Panjutha, a lawyer for Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, confirmed to Al Jazeera.
Both Bibi and Khan were sentenced to 14 years in jail in January after being found guilty on multiple charges of retaining and selling state gifts in violation of government rules. A court ruled that the couple had illegally sold gifts worth more than 140 million rupees ($505,000) received during Khan’s 2018-2022 premiership from a state treasury known as the Toshakhana, or treasure house.
The Khans deny the charges and say they were trumped up by the government to victimise the 72-year-old former cricket star, who has faced dozens of cases since he was removed as prime minister in 2022.
Khan has since been in a standoff with the country’s powerful military generals, whom he claims back the current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Khan remains widely popular in Pakistan, his party’s candidates winning the most seats in February’s general election. (Agencies)
