Colombo (News 1st) - A Pakistani court ruled Saturday (3rd) that former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s marriage violated Islamic law, and jailed both him and his wife for seven years, in the latest jail sentence for the already imprisoned popular politician, Pakistani media reported.
Khan, 71, who heads the Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, married Bushra Bibi in 2018, his third marriage. But Bibi’s former husband filed a case alleging that Bibi did not wait three months after the divorce as required by Islamic law, before marrying Khan. The wedding took place shortly before Khan became Prime Minister in 2018. He was deposed in 2022 through a no-confidence vote in parliament.
This is Khan’s third conviction this week, with general elections scheduled for next Thursday (8th) in which he is not eligible to run due to his convictions.
Last Tuesday Khan was sentenced to 10 years for leaking a confidential message which was a state secret. A day later Khan and his wife were sentenced to 14 years and fined 5.3 million dollars for the illegal sale of gifts they received when Khan was PM.
Khan’s first marriage was in 1995 to British socialite Jemima Goldsmith, with whom he had two children. They divorced after nine years and Khan married journalist Reham Khan in 2015, a marriage which lasted just one year.
Former PM Nawaz Sharif, who was himself convicted of corruption and returned just a few months ago from exile, is tipped by many to win the election, with Khan and many other PTI leaders in jail.