Pakistan court extends Imran Khan’s bail on terrorism charges

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – A Pakistani court docket on Monday prolonged former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s pre-arrest bail for eight extra days on terrorism costs referring to a speech wherein he allegedly threatened police and judicial officers, his lawyer mentioned.

Khan, who appeared in court docket in individual, was booked within the case by police in August. That is the fourth time he has secured pre-arrest bail within the matter.

“Bail is prolonged until twentieth September with the identical sureties,” Khan’s lawyer, Babar Awan, informed Reuters.

Khan has denied he threatened the officers, saying his phrases have been taken out of context.

“This quantities to creating a mockery of the anti-terrorism regulation; making a mockery of our nation,” he informed journalists outdoors the court docket on Monday after he secured his bail.

The terrorism case is certainly one of a spate of authorized woes for Khan, who was ousted as prime minister by a parliamentary vote in April.

The court docket mentioned final week it might indict Khan in a contempt of court docket case in coming days in a matter that poses a risk to his future because it may see him disqualified from politics for not less than 5 years.

Khan, who nonetheless enjoys widespread help, has been holding political gatherings throughout the nation to strain the federal government into holding snap elections. Formally, common elections will not be due till November subsequent yr.

The federal government says the polls will happen on time and has rejected Khan’s name for early elections.

It’s at certainly one of these rallies that Khan thundered in opposition to police and judicial officers. He has additionally focused the highest brass of the nation’s army, which issued a uncommon direct public rebuke of Khan for his statements earlier this month.

(Reporting by Gibran Peshimam; modifying by Philippa Fletcher)