Crime & Justice

Pakistan court quashes contempt case against former PM Khan

Islamabad, Oct 3 (EFE).- A Pakistan court on Monday dismissed the contempt case against former prime minister Imran khan over some controversial statements against a judge and alleged threats to a public officials that he had made during a speech in August.

The five-judge bench unanimously accepted an affidavit submitted by Khan on Saturday in which he had apologized for his comments, and dismissed the case, the ex-PM’s associate Faisal Javed told reporters outside the Islamabad High Court.

“It’s a victory for us and we appreciate the decision by the court,” said Javed.

On Sep. 8, A Pakistani court had announced that it was launching contempt proceedings against Khan for his controversial speech, which had also landed him into a trail in the anti-terrorism court.

The case dates back to August, when in a televised speech Khan warned the Islamabad police chiefs that he would charge them with “torturing” Shehbaz Gill, a leader of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, while he was in custody.

Later, he threatened to do the same with judge Zeba Chaudhry, who he accused of approving the police request for extending Gill’s preventive custody despite knowing that he was being tortured.

The Pakistani government slapped terror charges against Khan on Aug. 21 under the section 7 of the anti-terrorism law, for threatening police officers and the judge.

Subsequently, the anti-terror court extended bail for the ex-pm several times to avoid his arrest on terror charges until Sep. 19, when the case was withdrawn.

The popular leader on Sunday attended protests in the city of Taxila, close to Islamabad, where he asked his followers to prepare for a sit-in demonstration in the capital against the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

“This is the movement of real independence and we are ready to face jails. I am ready to go to jail and my nation as well,” Khan said.

Khan was ousted from power in a vote of no-confidence in April. He has accused the United States of orchestrating the “regime change operation” for his visit to Russia on the day it invaded Ukraine. Washington has denied the allegations.

The PTI leader is leading a massive campaign to pressurize the government into holding early elections. EFE

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