ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) will hear an appeal filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan against his conviction and sentence in the Toshakhana case on 22 August.
A division bench, comprising IHC top judge Aamer Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, will take up the hearing.
On 5 August, an Islamabad trial court found the former prime minister guilty of corrupt practices and sentenced him to 3 years in prison in the case. The verdict also led to his disqualification from contesting general elections for five years.
The court order had said that Imran Khan cheated while providing information about gifts he obtained from Toshakhana which later proved to be inaccurate and false. His dishonesty has been established beyond doubt.
The police had swung into action immediately after Additional District and Sessions Judge Humayun Dilawar announced the verdict and arrested the PTI chief from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore.
Subsequently, Imran Khan had approached the IHC through his lawyer, Khawaja Haris Ahmed and Barrister Gohar Ali Khan against his conviction, urging the court to also suspend his jail sentence till a final verdict on his appeal.
Imran Khan’s Appeal
According to the appeal, Imran Khan was about to challenge the ruling on the maintainability of the Toshakhana case in the apex court, but the trial court justice had fixed the hearing for final arguments on 5 August.
It explained that his lawyer was unable to rebut the final arguments of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) lawyer, as the former was preparing to file the challenge and submitted another application for transfer of the issue to another court.
The petition said that the trial court convicted Imran Khan with a “pre-disposed mind”, and sentenced him to 3 years imprisonment with a fine of 100,000 rupees.
However, at the previous hearing, Justice Farooq had stated that he would decide on the petition after hearing the concerned officials.
The case, filed by former PDM coalition government’s legislators, was based on a criminal complaint filed by the electoral watchdog.
The case alleged that the PTI chief had deliberately concealed details of the gifts he obtained from the Toshaskhana — a repository where gifts handed to authorities from foreign officials are kept — during his time in the PM house and proceeds from their reported sales.
PTI chairman has faced a number of legal problems over his retention of presents. The matter also led to his disqualification by the Election Commission.
