The trial court at Adiala jail today sentenced Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi to seven-year prison terms each in the “un-Islamic nikah” case.

Senior Civil Judge Qudratullah pronounced the verdict. Yesterday, the case was heard inside the jail premises for 14 hours.

The judge announced the court’s decision about the plea Khawar Maneka, Bushra Bibi’s ex-husband, made. He claimed that her marriage to the former prime minister was against Islamic law and illegal.

The complainant’s counsel, Raja Rizwan Abbasi, Khan’s lawyer, Salman Akram Raja, and Bushra Bibi’s lawyer, Usman Gul, also gave their final arguments a day earlier.

Maneka accused Bushra and Khan of committing fraud in their nikkah ceremony, claiming that they got married while Bushra was still in her iddat period.

“That above said nikah, and the marriage ceremony was neither legal nor Islamic as it was solemnised without observing the iddat period,” read the petition available with Geo.tv.

1. The proceedings + convictions in the “iddat case” (or specifically, “going through a marriage ceremony fraudulently without being lawfully married”) are a damning blot on our justice system

Horrifying the State stooped this low seemingly just to humiliate IK, Bushra Bibi

— Reema Omer (@reema_omer) February 3, 2024