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A Pakistani courtroom on Wednesday prolonged the jail custody of former prime minister Imran Khan for 14 days to research him on costs of leaking state secrets and techniques, his lawyer stated.
Naeem Panjutha stated the particular courtroom held the proceedings at Attock Jail, the place Khan started a three-year jail sentence on August 5 for corruption after being discovered responsible of unlawfully promoting state presents.
A courtroom suspended that sentence on Tuesday and stated Khan might be launched on bail, however he was barred from leaving as he was nonetheless underneath remand within the official secrets and techniques case.
Multiple circumstances have been lodged in opposition to Khan since he misplaced the premiership in a parliamentary confidence vote in April final 12 months.
Khan denies any wrongdoing, and says the accusations in opposition to him are politically motivated.
Khan’s supporters consider their chief is being punished for having the temerity to problem the army’s dominant affect in Pakistan’s politics, and that the courts are getting used to maintain him out of a nationwide election that’s due later this 12 months, however might be delayed until early 2024.
While the sentence within the graft case has been suspended, the conviction nonetheless stands, giving the Election Commission no cause to take away the five-year ban on Khan contesting elections.
Khan has been charged underneath the Official Secrets Act for making public the contents of a confidential cable despatched by Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States and utilizing it for political features, in line with a Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) case report seen by Reuters.
His prime aide, former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, has already been arrested and questioned within the case.
Khan alleges that the cable proves his elimination was on the behest of the United States, which he stated pressed Pakistan’s army to topple his authorities as a result of he had visited Russia shortly earlier than its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Washington and Pakistan’s army have denied that.
