The Federal Constitutional Court on Wednesday turned down Bushra Bibi’s application to suspend her sentence in the £190 million case. A two-member bench headed by Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan announced the decision in Islamabad. She is the wife of incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan.
What the court decided
Geo reported that the bench dismissed the application. Dunya News reported that the court declared the petition inadmissible after the hearing. Justice Ali Baqar Najafi sat with the chief justice. The court told her lawyer, Barrister Salman Safdar, to put his points in writing. Salman Akram Raja was also in the courtroom.
The sentence already in place
This was not a new sentence. Geo reported that an accountability court in Islamabad had already sentenced Bushra Bibi to seven years in prison and a fine of Rs500,000 in the £190 million case, also called the Al-Qadir Trust case. Imran Khan was sentenced to 14 years and a fine of Rs1 million in the same case. Wednesday’s order refused to put her sentence on hold.
What her lawyer argued
Safdar argued that courts have traditionally shown leniency toward women, and that she was seeking suspension because she is a woman. He said the National Accountability Bureau’s conduct over the past 13 months had been questionable: the bureau had sought adjournments and had opposed the suspension application. He said legal grounds for bail had arisen after the conviction, and that earlier hearings had stayed focused on Imran Khan’s appeal. Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan told him not to argue the merits, because the court was hearing the suspension plea. Justice Ali Baqar Najafi asked how many times the main appeal had been fixed for hearing.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Federal Constitutional Court ne Bushra Bibi ki saza rukwane ki darkhwast kharij kar di. Yeh £190 million, ya Al-Qadir Trust, case hai. Un par pehle se saat saal ki saza aur Rs500,000 ka jurmana hai. Court ne saza suspend nahi ki. Unke wakeel Salman Safdar se likhi daleel bhi mangi gayi.
