ISLAMABAD: The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) on Wednesday rejected a plea moved by the spouse of incarcerated former premier Imran Khan, Bushra Bibi, seeking suspension of her seven-year sentence in the £190 Al-Qadir Trust case.
“We find no sufficient ground warranting interference with the April 30 Islamabad High Court (IHC) order at this stage,” Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan, who headed a two-judge FCC bench, observed.
The court also expressed the expectation that the high court would endeavour to decide the main appeal, affording both sides adequate opportunity of hearing while discouraging unnecessary adjournments.
Earlier in the day, a two-judge FCC bench comprising the chief justice and Justice Ali Baqar Najafi had reserved its ruling on the plea.
Bushra had moved the FCC in July seeking the suspension of her sentence, with her criminal appeal contending that the appellant, being a woman with a serious medical condition, was entitled to the suspension of her sentence. On Sept 17, her counsel moved an application before the FCC, seeking early hearing of the appeal, citing a rapidly deteriorating ocular condition that threatens the appellant’s remaining eyesight.
In a three-page order issued on Wednesday, the FCC noted that the application seeking the suspension of the sentence had remained pending before the IHC on account of successive adjournments sought by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
The FCC said that, without entering into the merits of the application under Section 426 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the IHC had declined to suspend the sentence, principally on the ground that the main appeal had already been fixed for hearing and the appellant’s counsel was not extending the requisite assistance towards its adjudication.
The record further reflected that the appeal, initially fixed for April 30, was subsequently adjourned to May 7 and thereafter to Oct 5.
The principal grievance urged by counsel representing the appellant pertained to the repeated adjournments allegedly sought by NAB, resulting in the prolongation of proceedings on the application for suspension of sentence, the FCC observed.
“Be that as it may, the main appeal having already been fixed for hearing, the appropriate course would be to secure its expeditious adjudication rather than undertake a parallel examination of the merits of suspension of sentence at this stage,” the FCC observed.
The appellant’s assertion that the appeal involved a voluminous record necessitating elaborate arguments did not, by itself, furnish sufficient justification for interference with the impugned order, the order said.
It was, therefore, incumbent upon the appellant’s counsel to extend full assistance to the IHC in hearing the main appeal, whereafter NAB would be equally obligated to advance its arguments without unnecessary adjournments, the judgment said.
The FCC also noted that the present criminal appeal was barred by 61 days, for which the appellant had sought condonation of delay.
The explanation furnished, particularly the appellant’s incarceration at Central Jail, Adiala, Rawalpindi, constituted sufficient cause warranting condonation, the FCC observed while condoning the delay of 61 days in filing the appeal.
The appeal
Moved under Section 32-A of the National Accountability Ordinance read with Article 175F(1)(a) of the Constitution, the criminal appeal pleaded before the FCC that, despite earlier directions issued by the IHC to the authorities of Central Jail Adiala to facilitate a meeting between the appellant and her counsel, the jail authorities were not complying with the directions.
Her counsel was instead permitted to meet the appellant’s husband, Imran Khan, who disclosed that both he and the appellant were being illegally kept in solitary confinement. They were allegedly denied access to family, friends, counsel and political party members, as well as to each other, and were not provided with books or television, thereby subjecting them to complete isolation from human contact and depriving them of information about the outside world.
The same was subsequently confirmed by the appellant’s daughters upon meeting her after her eye surgery on April 17, the appeal stated.
Such treatment amounted to an unauthorised enhancement of sentence, violated the prisoners’ fundamental rights to life and dignity guaranteed under Article 9 of the Constitution, and warranted immediate intervention by the FCC, the petition argued.
The appeal stated that the appellant had been subjected to continuous solitary confinement, which had demonstrably taken a grave toll on her physical and mental health. This was evident from the fact that she had to be taken outside the jail premises for eye surgery.
In view of her deteriorating medical condition, she ought not to be subjected to solitary confinement even if such punishment had been awarded by a court. However, in blatant disregard of the applicable law and prison rules, she continued to be subjected to such unlawful confinement, the petition pleaded.
The appeal contended that NAB had selectively prosecuted the appellant and her husband while deliberately excluding six other individuals who were allegedly implicated in the matter.
The core allegations revolved around the Malik Riaz family and other persons who had conspicuously not been subjected to prosecution. This selective and incomplete approach had resulted in a defective and biased investigation, culminating in the unjust framing of charges and subsequent conviction of the appellant, the appeal contended.
Thus, the prosecution had failed to present cogent, reliable and legally admissible evidence to substantiate the allegations in their entirety.
Earlier this month, senior members of the PTI’s legal team approached the FCC for early fixation of the criminal appeal. However, no fresh application was filed, and only a verbal request was made for early registration and fixation of the case.
The former first lady was handed the sentence in the case in January last year, and remains imprisoned at Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail. The court found Imran and Bushra guilty of giving undue favours to property tycoon Riaz in retrieving his laundered money from the United Kingdom.
Bushra, along with the ex-PM, had initially moved the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for the suspension of her sentence in July last year. But the high court dismissed their requests in May 2026, observing that their appeals against their convictions had already been fixed for hearing.
Subsequently, the two approached the Supreme Court against the IHC decision, but the SC office returned the petition as being not maintainable, explaining that since the IHC had passed the impugned order while exercising jurisdiction under Section 32 of the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), 1999, the remedy lay exclusively before the FCC under Section 32-A of the ordinance.
Bushra then moved the FCC on July 30, with her criminal appeal contending that the appellant, being a woman with a serious medical condition, was entitled to the suspension of her sentence, as similar relief was contemplated under the first proviso to Section 497(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
Her latest application for the appeal’s early hearing, which was rejected on Monday, also stated that her rapidly deteriorating ocular condition threatened her remaining eyesight.
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