Pakistan SC to resume hearing on Imran Khan’s bail denial pleas on Aug 12

Pakistan’s Supreme Court will resume hearing former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s appeals against bail denial in eight cases linked to the May 9 violence. Khan, currently in Adiala Jail, faces charges including inciting attacks on military and government buildings.

Islamabad: Pakistan’s Supreme Court will resume on Tuesday the hearing of appeals filed by jailed former premier Imran Khan against the denial of bail in cases related to May 9 violence, according to a media report on Sunday.

According to the appeals filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) supremo, he was denied post-arrest bail by the Lahore High Court (LHC) in eight cases related to the violence that erupted on May 9, 2023, after his arrest from the Islamabad High Court premises, the Dawn newspaper reported.

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The LHC rejected Khan’s bail citing his alleged role in planning attacks on military installations in anticipation of his arrest on May 9.

The Supreme Court had adjourned the hearings on July 29 on the request of the defence counsel, who said that lead counsel Salman Safdar was abroad.

The case will be taken up on Tuesday by a three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi and comprising Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, according to the report.

Khan, 72, is booked in several cases in Lahore in connection with the May 9 violence, including for allegedly inciting his supporters to attack government and military buildings.

According to the pleas, Khan was in the custody of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) at the time of the alleged offence, and, therefore, his involvement in the May 9 violence was “impossible”, the report said.

Khan, who was ousted from office in April 2022, has been in the high-security Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi, since August 2023 after being convicted in a corruption case. He faces multiple legal cases, most of them filed after his removal from power.