IHC turns down Imran's request for sentence suspension

A division bench of the Islamabad High Court Wednesday denied requests to suspend the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan’s prison term, Aaj News reported.

The two-member bench consisted of Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Tariq Mahmood Jahangiri.

Imran’s attorneys requested a suspension of the jail term in their appeal.

The court, however, refused to immediately end the sentence and gave notice to all parties that a hearing would be held later.

Former prime minister Imran Khan filed on Tuesday a plea in the IHC challenging his conviction in the Toshakhana case by a trial court.

In his petition, the PTI chief contended that he was aggrieved of and dissatisfied with the order Additional Sessions Judge, Islamabad (West) Humayun Dilawar passed on August 5, whereby, he was convicted under Article 174 of the Election Act, 2017 to three years in jail and Rs100,000 fine or in default of six months in jail. He added that the said impugned order was not sustainable and liable to be set aside.

He further said that the order was without lawful authority, tainted with bias, and was a nullity in the eye of the law, and liable to be set aside.

Imran Khan’s counsels said the impugned judgment was passed “with a pre-disposed mind” by the trial judge to convict and sentence the appellant irrespective of the merits of the case.

The PTI chief is currently incarcerated in Attock Jail after his arrest on Saturday. The arrest came after an Islamabad district and sessions court disqualified him from politics for five years and sentenced him to three years in prison in the Toshakhana criminal case.