A Pakistani court on Saturday (3rd February) declared in a lawsuit challenging jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan’ marriage to Bushra Bibi as ‘un-islamic’, his third wife as per the Islamic law and sentenced them to seven years each in jail.
It is the third decision in a week that has harmed the former international cricketer’s reputation, following consecutive prison sentences of ten years for leaking state secrets and fourteen years for corruption alongside his wife Bushra Bibi
Bibi’s first husband, Khawar Maneka, filed the complaint, stating that she breached the Islamic norm of maintaining the necessary gap (Iddat) between two marriages.
Maneka also alleged his ex-wife and Khan of having an adulterous relationship prior to the marriage, which is punishable by death by stoning. Qudratullah, Senior Civil Judge of Islamabad, presided over the session at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, where Khan has been detained since September of last year on several charges. He wrapped up the 14-hour hearing Friday night.
Scenes inside the courtroom
The cross-examination given by the 4 prosecution witnesses was ended today, and Khan, 71, and Bibi, 49, gave a combined statement in which they answered 13 questions. The judge denied the defence’s motion to present new witnesses. Both acquittal and jurisdictional pleas were refused.
Bibi claimed the divorce document on November 14, 2017, forged, saying she completed the obligatory iddat period from April to August 2017 after getting a verbal triple talaq (divorce) from Maneka in April 2017. Bibi married Khan on January 1, 2018, and she is said to have had a lot of influence on the previous premier during his time in government.
The court witnessed strange situations over the final two days of the trial. On Thursday, Khan and Maneka exchanged insults and accusations. They were about to swear on the Holy Quran to back up their claims when the court informed them that doing so would result in the loss of their right to cross examination.
Maneka also claimed that Khan had damaged his family life, causing his daughter to divorce and his son to join a rehabilitation clinic as a result of their mother’s alleged affair.
The pair questioned why Maneka waited so long to file his complaint, claiming he finally raised it last year after being jailed in a corruption case.
Imran Khan- a “playboy” during his bachelor days
Oxford-educated during his cricket-playing bachelor days, Khan was regularly pictured with social beauties and models, earning him the reputation as a playboy.
His first marriage, to Jemima Goldsmith, daughter of a British multimillionaire, ended in divorce. He then wed Reham Nayyar, a journalist who divorced after a year and released a kiss-and-tell biography.
Bibi, his third wife, appears in public only on rare occasions and always wears a face-covering hijab.
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