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Islamabad (PTI): A Pakistani court on Saturday acquitted jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi in the un-Islamic marriage case, the only case that has kept the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party founder behind bars since August last year.

On February 3, days before the February 8 general elections, an Islamabad court convicted the couple based on a complaint filed by Bushra Bibi’s ex-husband, Khawar Fareed Maneka, who alleged that they were married during the former first lady’s Iddat period.

In Islam, a woman cannot remarry before four months have passed after her husband’s divorce or death.

The couple had challenged the verdict in a district and sessions court in the capital Islamabad, where Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Afzal Majoka heard the case.

The judge announced the sentence in the afternoon after reserving the verdict earlier in the day, acquitting Khan, 71, and Bushra, 49.

“If they are not wanted in any other case, then PTI founder Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi should be released (from jail) immediately,” the judge said after accepting their appeals.

But it was not clear whether he would be released. However, it was the only case for which Khan was jailed after the sentence in the Toshakhana corruption case was suspended and the acquittal in the Cipher case.

The cricketer-turned-politician has been behind bars since August last year after being convicted in the Toshakhana corruption case and subsequently sentenced in other cases ahead of the February 8 elections.

Bibi’s ex-husband Maneka filed the suit against the couple in November 2023, alleging that they married without her observing the mandatory Iddat waiting period. She asked the court to declare the marriage void.

Khan and Bibi married in 2018, the year Khan won the election and became prime minister.

Bibi was ostensibly his spiritual guide, but the two developed a mutual affection during their encounters. She divorced her husband of 28 years and had five children with him.

She is the third wife of Khan, a former cricket hero who during the height of his sporting career had a reputation as a playboy.

PTI chief Gohar Khan welcomed the verdict and said it was a victory for the independent judiciary. “All these cases were false and you will get justice in all other cases as well,” he said, demanding that Imran Khan be released as it was the last case in which he was convicted.

The ruling in the case comes a day after Khan’s embattled party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), won a massive legal battle when the Supreme Court declared him eligible for reserved seats in Parliament and provincial assemblies following the disputed February 8 general elections.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Friday ruled that the party was eligible for more than 20 seats reserved for women and minorities in Parliament.