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ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN —An appeals court in Pakistan on Saturday acquitted former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife of charges their 2018 marriage was in breach of Islamic law, a crime for which both had been serving seven-year sentences.
However, authorities promptly re-arrested Khan, the 71-year-old most popular Pakistani politician, and his third wife, Bushra Bibi, citing new charges against them, including corruption and inciting violence against the powerful military and other state institutions.
The two were found guilty in February of allegedly breaking Islamic law by failing to observe the mandated three-month interval between Bibi's divorce from a previous marriage and their marriage.
The federal court ruled Saturday that the prosecution had failed to prove its case, and "consequently, both the appellants are acquitted of the charge." It added, "They are directed to be released forthwith if not required to be detained in any other case."
But Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) political party said that following the acquittal verdict, authorities issued new arrest warrants and prevented the couple from leaving the prison near the capital, Islamabad.
Khan was initially convicted and sentenced on corruption charges last August. He received three back-to-back convictions, including the one related to his marriage, and long prison terms as well as disqualification from politics just days before the February 8 national election.
The rapid judicial actions prompted the former prime minister and his party to accuse Pakistan's powerful military of influencing court proceedings to block Khan from running again and undermine PTI campaigning.
Despite repeated convictions and a nationwide state crackdown on PTI supporters, Khan-backed candidates won 93 of 266 seats in the National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament. All of Khan's sentences have since been overturned or suspended, and he was supposed to walk out of jail on Saturday.
"Mr. Khan has been arrested in 3 more cases. ...Yet another gimmick to keep the illegal imprisonment prolonged," a PTI statement said, rejecting as baseless new charges of anti-state violence and corruption against Khan and his wife.
The PTI warned that the political turmoil gripping Pakistan since the former prime minister was removed from power in 2022 through a parliamentary vote of no confidence would only worsen by keeping Khan in jail despite his acquittals.
Saturday's ruling came a day after Pakistan's Supreme Court declared that the PTI was unconstitutionally denied at least 20 seats in the National Assembly, citing pre-poll manipulation by the country's election commission. That verdict dealt a critical blow to the country's ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who is believed to be backed by the military.
Friday's top court verdict would further enhance the PTI's strength and turn it into the largest parliamentary party. However, observers say it does not immediately threaten Sharif's coalition government, which came to power after the highly contentious February vote.
"It is now hoped that this judgment will preclude the kind of blatant engineering that defined this last general election," Pakistan's prominent English-language DAWN newspaper wrote in an editorial Saturday. "The government and establishment must not stand in the way of its implementation," the paper said.
The reference to establishment collectively refers to the military and spy agencies it leads. The military has staged several coups against elected governments and governed Pakistan for more than three decades since it gained independence in 1947.
Politicians, including Khan, have publicly claimed that generals influence national political affairs even when not in power, charges the army denies.