Islamabad High Court grants bail to Bushra Bibi after nine months of detention

Bushra Bibi, wife of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, has been granted bail by the Islamabad High Court in a case related to the alleged mishandling of state gifts, specifically a jewelry set. The court approved her bail against a bond of 2 million rupees.

Bushra Bibi was originally sentenced to 14 years in prison on January 31, 2024, in connection with the state gift house case. Following the verdict, she voluntarily surrendered and was initially detained. Although she was transferred to her personal residence in Bani Gala, Islamabad, which had been designated as a sub-jail, she soon requested to serve her sentence in Adiala Jail, where her husband, Imran Khan, is currently being held in solitary confinement.

After nine months in custody, the Islamabad High Court suspended her sentence, only for her to be re-arrested on similar charges shortly afterward. Despite the ongoing legal challenges, Barrister Gohar, Interim Chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, praised Bushra Bibi for her courage and loyalty to the party during her incarceration. Gohar emphasized that she was imprisoned for a crime she did not commit and commended her resilience in the face of adversity.

In addition to her troubles related to the state gift case, Bushra Bibi and her husband were sentenced to seven years in prison in February 2024 in an illegal marriage case. However, both were acquitted of these charges by a Pakistani court on July 13, 2024.

Imran Khan, the former prime minister, has been embroiled in numerous legal battles since his government was ousted following a no-confidence vote in April 2022. The charges against him range from corruption to treason, and his PTI party has consistently maintained that these accusations are politically motivated, aimed at sidelining him from national politics.

Concerns over inhumane prison conditions

On Thursday, Khan's legal team met with him at Central Jail Adiala after the Islamabad High Court ordered a meeting, the first in over a month due to restrictions imposed by the jail authorities. Khan's lawyers have raised serious concerns about his treatment in prison, with senior lawyer Shoaib Shaheen describing Khan’s conditions as inhumane, revealing that the former prime minister has been kept in solitary confinement in a small, death-row cell.

The developments surrounding Bushra Bibi's bail come at a time of heightened international attention on Pakistan’s political and human rights situation. On the same day, Pakistan's foreign office reacted to a letter written by over 60 Democratic lawmakers from the US House of Representatives, urging US President Joe Biden to press for the release of political prisoners in Pakistan, including Imran Khan.

The letter, signed by Representatives Greg Casar, Jim McGovern, Summer Lee, and others, called for President Biden to use Washington's influence to address human rights concerns in Pakistan, emphasizing that these issues should be a central pillar of US foreign policy toward the country. The lawmakers highlighted the "widespread human rights abuses" in Pakistan, urging action to secure the release of political figures like Khan.

Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, criticized the letter, stating that such comments on Pakistan's internal affairs were counterproductive and misaligned with the positive dynamics of Pakistan-US relations. Baloch expressed that these remarks stem from an "incorrect understanding" of Pakistan's political situation and urged the US Congress to focus on strengthening bilateral relations through mutual cooperation.