The high court in Islamabad has suspended the former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan’s recent conviction on corruption charges, his lawyer has said, though it is unclear whether this will lead to his release from jail.after being sentenced to three years 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 the coming months, Pakistan’s election commission barred Khan from contesting elections for five years. He had filed an appeal against the conviction. “Our application has been accepted, and the sentence has been suspended,” Naeem Panjutha, his lawyer, said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The uncertainty over whether Khan will be automatically released as a result of the high court’s decision is due to other court orders allowing for his arrest in other cases. It is not immediately clear how the ban on contesting elections will be affected.