Pakistan court to hear Imran Khan’s £190M case on Sep 25

A Pakistani court has scheduled a hearing on September 25 for petitions filed by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi seeking suspension of their sentences in the £190 million case.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) said Chief Justice Sarfaraz Dogar will hear the case alongside Justice Azam Khan. The development comes after months of delays - at the last hearing on June 5, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had requested three to four weeks to appoint a special prosecutor.

The bench directed NAB to make the appointment by June 11, but the hearing could not be fixed since then despite repeated calls from Khan’s party for an early date.

The announcement coincided with a separate appeal by Khan to Pakistan’s Chief Justice Yahya Afridi, in which he sought relief over what he called “unlawful imprisonment” and violations of his rights.

Khan’s letter to the chief justice

According to PTI leader Latif Khosa, Khan’s letter was delivered to Chief Justice Afridi on Wednesday. Khosa said he also briefed the judge on the alleged mistreatment faced by Khan in jail. “The chief justice assured that the matter would be looked into within a day,” he told reporters. Hours later, the IHC fixed the hearing for September 25.

This is not Khan’s first appeal to the judiciary. He previously wrote to former chief justice Qazi Faez Isa in November 2023 and April 2024, alleging political victimization of PTI and calling for the supremacy of law.

In his latest letter, delivered through his sister Aleema Khan, Khan said he has been held in continuous solitary confinement while facing more than 300 “politically motivated” cases. “Pakistan has never witnessed what is being done to me, my family, and my supporters across the globe,” he wrote. He alleged that meetings with his lawyers and family are arbitrarily cancelled “at the whims and wishes of [army chief] Asim Munir.”

Khan further claimed his sons are denied even phone calls, calling his imprisonment “calculated psychological torture, crafted to break my will and, through me, the spirit of 251 million Pakistanis.” He described the treatment as an assault on Pakistan’s Constitution and democratic future.

The former prime minister also raised concerns about his wife, Bushra Bibi, alleging she has been kept in solitary confinement without medical care, books, or access to the outside world. “Her health has been deteriorating over time,” he said.

Khan also accused IHC Chief Justice Sarfaraz Dogar—whom he described as a “byproduct of the 26th constitutional amendment”—of repeatedly refusing to hear his petitions in the Al-Qadir Trust and Toshakhana cases.

He urged immediate hearings on pending petitions, the restoration of his right to call his sons under jail rules, medical treatment for his wife, and the protection of “judicial independence of Pakistan’s judiciary.”

“I urge Your Lordship to uphold the oath of your office and show the people that the Supreme Court of Pakistan remains their final refuge of justice,” Khan wrote.

Khan’s legal troubles

Khan’s imprisonment stems from a wave of cases filed after his removal from office in 2022. The turning point came on May 9, 2023, when his arrest triggered nationwide unrest. Supporters poured into the streets, stormed military installations, torched government buildings, and clashed with police in some of Pakistan’s most violent protests in decades.

Though briefly released on bail, Khan was rearrested in August 2023 and has remained in custody since.

What is the £190 million case?

The case centers on £190 million repatriated to Pakistan by the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA). Prosecutors allege that Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi benefitted illegally from the funds through the Al-Qadir Trust.

The money was part of a confidential settlement between the NCA and a prominent business family. In December 2019, Khan’s cabinet approved the deal. Investigators say that in return for facilitating it, 458 kanals (about 22.7 hectares) of land were granted to Khan and his wife.

Khan, however, denies any wrongdoing. In a written statement, he said the funds were transferred on the account holder’s instructions—not the government’s—and argued that no loss was caused to the state. “The funds were part of a legal settlement, and neither I nor my family benefitted from them,” he stated, adding that no special concessions were made in transferring the funds to the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s account.

He further insisted that the transaction arose from an out-of-court settlement between the business family and the British agency, not from any wrongdoing on his part.