ISLAMABAD  -  The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Monday suspended the 14-year sentences awarded to former prime minis­ter Imran Khan and his wife Bushra by an Ac­countability Court in the Toshakhana reference.

A special bench of the IHC comprising Chief Justice of IHC Justice Aamer Farooq and Jus­tice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb conducted hearing in the appeals moved by Imran and Bushra against their convictions in the Toshakhana case. How­ever, they will not be released immediately as they have been con­victed in other cases.

Imran and Bushra were sentenced in the Toshakhana reference by an Islamabad ac­countability court on January 31 and accord­ing to the verdict, they were barred from hold­ing any public office for 10 years and slapped with a fine of Rs787 million each.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed the ref­erence against them for retain­ing a jewellery set received from the Saudi Crown Prince against an undervalued assessment. The anti-graft watchdog had alleged in the reference that during his term as prime minister, Imran and his wife had received a total of 108 gifts from different heads of state and foreign dignitaries.

During the hearing, Barris­ter Ali Zafar appeared before the court as the counsel for the ex-premier and his spouse while NAB prosecutor Amjad Pervaiz was also present.

Justice Aamer said to Zafar that his arguments would only be heard if the same are related to the suspension of the Toshakha­na sentence and not to the appeal against the conviction. He said that as the appeal against the ci­pher conviction was already sub judice, both pleas could not be heard concurrently. Then, Ali Za­far started the arguments and asked for permission to give ar­guments related to annulment of the sentence instead of its sus­pension. However, the IHC Chief Justice said that if you are going to give arguments on the main ap­peal now, they would have to give a date after Eid because the Ci­pher case is already being heard. He said that in the main appeal of the case, the prosecution is yet to present its arguments and they do not know how much time they will take in this matter. 

Imran’s counsel adopted the stance that he is not asking for suspension of sentence in this case. At this, NAB lawyer Am­jad Pervez said that they will not give arguments against the sus­pension of the sentence and they accept the plea of the accused to the extent of suspension of the sentence. Then, Justice Farooq and Justice Miangul Hasan began consultation during which Jus­tice Miangul Hassan addressed to the NAB lawyer and asked that what are you saying? Per­vaiz replied that they have re­viewed the verdict and this is a case of sentence suspension. Jus­tice Aurangzeb immediately said that you have adopted a very fair position. Zafar again urged the court to hear his arguments in the Toshakhana appeal as well, contending that both were en­tirely different cases. However, Justice Aamer said that the ci­pher appeal proceedings would conclude within the next one or two hearings, after which the Toshakhana case could be heard.