Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has been acquitted of charges related to leaking state secrets, but he remains imprisoned due to convictions in other cases.
Despite the Islamabad High Court clearing him of making public a diplomatic cable, for which he was sentenced to 10 years in January, he will not be released immediately.
Khan, ousted as prime minister in 2022, has faced multiple legal battles, which he claims are politically motivated. In addition to the state secrets case, Khan and his third wife, Bushra, are serving prison sentences for their allegedly un-Islamic marriage and corruption related to gifts received during his premiership.
The couple’s 2018 marriage was deemed illegal by the court as it occurred too soon after Bushra’s divorce.
Imran Khan remains a significant figure in Pakistani politics. His party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), performed well in the February elections, running candidates as independents due to political pressure. PTI emerged as the largest bloc but did not secure a majority, leading their rivals to form a new government.
The “cipher case” involved allegations that Khan leaked a classified cable from Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington, which he brandished at a 2022 rally, claiming it evidenced a foreign conspiracy against him.
Though he did not explicitly name any country, he was critical of the US. Both Washington and Pakistani officials denied any conspiracy. Khan’s foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, also received a 10-year sentence related to this case but was acquitted alongside Khan on Monday.
Despite the acquittal in the cipher case, Khan’s continued imprisonment due to other convictions underscores the ongoing political and legal turmoil in Pakistan, with his PTI party maintaining significant influence amid these challenges. PTI spokesman Naeem Panjutha expressed relief over the overturned sentence on social media.
