Islamabad: Bushra Bibi, the wife of Pakistan’s jailed former premier Imran Khan, was on Thursday released on bail nearly nine months after her arrest in the Toshakhana corruption case.
The release came a day after the Islamabad High Court judge, Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, accepted the bail plea of the 50-year-old former first lady against a surety bond of Rs 1 million.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party confirmed Bushra’s release in a WhatsApp message. “Bushra Bibi, the former First Lady, has been released from the prison,” it said, adding that she was first arrested on January 31.
Bushra was arrested after a court convicted and sentenced the couple to 14 years in jail in a corruption case.
The Toshakhana case involves allegations of corruption against Khan and his wife for receiving profit from the sale of gifts received from foreign dignitaries.
Earlier, Justice Aurangzeb, hearing the bail plea, had questioned the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) investigative officer about the necessity of further interrogation of the former first lady. The officer confirmed that no additional investigation was required.
Bushra is Khan’s third wife and a spiritual healer.
Meanwhile, the indictment proceedings against Khan and Bushra, scheduled on Wednesday were postponed due to security concerns as the hearing set to take place at Rawalpindi’s high-security Adiala Jail was moved to Islamabad’s Judicial Complex.
However, security concerns continued to prevent the proceedings, and the court rescheduled the indictment for October 26.
Bushra’s release comes as a relief to the PTI as well as Khan, who has been insisting that his wife had nothing to do with the case.
