Pakistan ex-PM Khan’s graft conviction suspended, but no quick release

A Pakistani court on Tuesday suspended former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s recent conviction on corruption charges, his lawyer Naeem Panjutha said, but it will not lead to his release as a judge has ordered his detention in another case.

The 70-year-old former cricket hero has been at the centre of political turmoil in the crisis-ridden nuclear-armed state since his ouster in a parliamentary vote of confidence in April 2022, and his relations with Pakistan’s powerful generals have deteriorated badly over the past year.

Khan was imprisoned on Aug.5 after being sentenced to three years jail for unlawfully selling state gifts during his tenure as prime minister from 2018 to 2022. As a result of the conviction, and with a national election expected in coming months, Pakistan’s Election Commission also barred Khan from contesting elections for five years.

“The sentence has been suspended,” Panjutha said on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter, adding, “God be praised.”

Khan’s legal team lodged the appeal against his conviction on the grounds that he was convicted without being given the right to defend himself.

The court also ordered Khan’s release on bail, another one of his lawyers, Shoaib Shaheen, told reporters outside the court. But he will not be freed as he has been detained in at least one other case on charges of leaking state secrets.

A special court in Islamabad has ordered the jail authorities to keep Khan in judicial custody and present him before the court on Wednesday, according to an undated order seen by Reuters.

A Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) official, who requested anonymity, said Khan is charged with making public the contents of a confidential cable sent by Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States and using it for political gain.

Khan’s top aide, former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, has already been arrested in the same case.

Khan alleges that the cable proves that his removal was at the behest of the United States, which he said pressed Pakistan’s military to topple his government because he had visited Russia shortly before its attack on Ukraine.

Both the United States and the Pakistani military have denied that.

Khan faces dozens of cases, including charges of abetment to murder and orchestrating violent protests.

It is unclear how the ban on his contesting elections will be affected with the suspension of his sentence. National elections are due later this year, but they are likely to be delayed several months.

The suspension marks another win for Khan and comes a day after the Balochistan High Court dismissed sedition charges against him, saying they had been improperly filed.