Dec. 22 (UPI) — Pakistan’s Supreme Court granted bail for former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his party’s vice chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the cipher case against them on Friday.
A three-judge panel held a hearing before approving bail of about $3,580 for the former Pakistan leaders, both of the Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI, party.
The order said that the crimes Imran and Qureshi were accused of did not meet the category of crimes threatening society and should be offered bail. It added that incarcerating them would not “serve any useful purpose.”
“Incarceration of a political competitor during the period of elections … gravely affects the fundamental rights of the voters and prejudices the genuineness and integrity of the elections,” Judge Athar Minallah said.
The bail is the latest twist involving the popular but embattled Khan who fought to stage a political comeback in Pakistan despite legal challenges that led to his removal from office in 2022.
In October, Khan was indicted on charges connected with the Official Secrets Act involving the “wilful” leaking of damaging classified information. Prosecutors said then that Khan in 2022 “retained and wrongfully communicated” a document containing top-secret information regarding the United States and Pakistan.
The original indictment and trial were abandoned by the Pakistan courts before Khan was indicted for the same crimes on Dec. 13 and a new trial started last week at the Adiala district jail.
