Pakistan ex-PM Imran Khan challenges conviction in graft case, says judge 'biased'

Islamabad, august 8

Pakistan’s jailed former premier Imran Khan on Tuesday challenged his conviction in the Toshakhana corruption case by a trial court, saying the verdict by a “biased” judge was a “slap in the face due process and fair trial” and “a gross travesty of justice”.

Disqualified for five years

Pakistan’s top election body on Tuesday disqualified former prime minister Imran Khan for five years following his conviction. He was found guilty of corrupt practices under Section 167 of the Elections Act, 2017 and his sentencing for three years

Khan, 70, was arrested on Saturday shortly after an Islamabad trial court found him guilty of “corrupt practices” in the Toshakhana case and sentenced him to three years in jail. Khan is currently lodged in the Attock Jail.

Kept in bug-infested cell: report

• Pak former PM Imran Khan has been kept in a small bug-infested cell with an open washroom in the high-security Attock jail after his arrest
• Khan’s attorney Naeem Haider Panjotha said he has been provided C-class facilities in the jail
• “The PTI chairman says he is ready to spend his whole life in jail,” the lawyer was quoted as saying by Geo News

Khan has appealed his conviction and the three-year prison sentence in the case by filing a plea through his lawyers — Khawaja Haris and Gohar Ali Khan — at the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

He said the trial judge made the conclusions on the basis of a “predisposed mind” instead of merit of the case because the petitioner’s lawyer was not given the right of presenting arguments.

Khan’s plea stated that the judgment passed by the trial court judge was “tainted with bias, is a nullity in the eye of the law and is liable to be set aside”.

The plea named the district election commissioner of Islamabad as the respondent.