- The statement said the arrests violate the Constitution and fundamental rights.
- The NAB chairman, director general and other officials were named as parties.
- Khan and Bushra were “illegally” taken into NAB custody.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi on Thursday challenged their arrest in a fresh Toshakhana reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
The legal troubles of the ousted prime minister and his wife did not cease after the couple's arrest in the new NAB reference related to state gifts, which came just hours after their acquittal in the Don't know last week's case — also known as the un-Islamic nikah case — which was the final obstacle to his release from prison.
In the petition filed with the IHC against the arrests, Khan named the chairman, director general and other officials of the anti-graft watchdog as respondents.
“The petitioners have been arrested in violation of the law, the Constitution and fundamental rights,” the petition states.
He maintained that Khan and Bushra had been “illegally” taken into NAB custody while their arrest had affected the fundamental rights of “liberty and pre-arrest”.
On July 13, a team of the anti-graft watchdog headed by deputy director Mohsin Haroon arrested Khan and Bushra from Adiala Jail in the fresh reference related to alleged “abuse of power to acquire gifts from Toshakhana.”
NAB team re-arrested Bushra Bibi after she was released from Gate No. 3 of Adiala Jail, following her exoneration in the Don't know case.
Subsequently, an accountability court on Sunday approved eight-day physical remand for each of the PTI founders and his wife in the fresh corruption case.
Khan has been behind bars since August last year after being sentenced in the Toshakhana criminal case and subsequently sentenced in other cases ahead of the February 8 elections.
While the former prime minister has been granted bail in several May 9 cases registered in Lahore, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) last week cancelled his bail in 12 May 9 cases registered against him and thousands of his supporters in connection with the violence against the army and other state installations that erupted after his arrest in May 2023.
In June, the Islamabad High Court overturned Khan's conviction on charges of leaking state secrets in the Cipher case, in which he was given a 10-year prison sentence on charges of making public a classified cable sent to Islamabad by Pakistan's ambassador to Washington in 2022.
In addition, former Prime Minister Khan was sentenced to imprisonment (one for 14 years and the other for three) in two cases related to the illegal acquisition and sale of state gifts. Both sentences were suspended by higher courts pending the resolution of his appeals; however, the conviction in both cases still stands.
