A Pakistani court has acquitted former prime minister Imran Khan and other top leaders of his party in two cases related to vandalism during an anti-government protest march in 2022.
The 71-year-old founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has been in jail since August last year after being convicted in some of the nearly 200 cases filed against him since his ouster in April 2022.
The district and sessions court of Islamabad acquitted Khan, former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, ex-communication minister Murad Saeed, and other PTI leaders in two cases of vandalism during the ‘Haqeeqi Azaadi’ march, as per the latest reports.
In May 2022, the former cricketer-turned-politician initiated a march from Lahore to Islamabad to overthrow the coalition government of Shehbaz Sharif, which had taken power after Khan was ousted as prime minister following a vote of no confidence.
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The rally was part of the PTI’s campaign to achieve “real freedom” and liberate the nation from the “slavery” of the “US-backed” coalition government. Khan had accused the coalition government of coming to power through a “US-backed conspiracy.”
At that time, the Islamabad police filed separate cases against 150 individuals, including Khan, Qureshi, and other party leaders, over allegations of arson and vandalism in the federal capital. Earlier this month, a judicial magistrate in Islamabad also acquitted Khan in two cases of vandalism related to his party’s two long marches in 2022.
Judicial magistrate Shaista Kundi heard the pleas filed by the former prime minister for his acquittal in the cases registered at Islamabad’s Lohi Bhair and Sahala police stations, as well as one related to his court production.
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