Wife of Pakistan's Imran Khan gets bail in graft case, media say

FILE PHOTO: Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi are covered with a white sheet as they arrive to appear at the High Court in Lahore, Pakistan, May 15, 2023. REUTERS/Mohsin Raza/File Photo

KARACHI (Reuters) -A special court in Pakistan's city of Rawalpindi granted interim bail on Tuesday to the wife of former Prime Minister Imran Khan in a graft case, media outlet ARY News said.

Khan, in jail since last August, was convicted in some cases ahead of February's general election, but a U.N. human rights working group said on Monday his arbitrary imprisonment violated international law.

"The special accountability court granted bail," ARY News said in a message on X, referring to the interim bail.

Both Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, deny wrongdoing in the case against them regarding the alleged receipt of financial help from a land developer in setting up an educational institution, Al Qadir University.

However, his spouse will stay in prison as she is also serving a sentence after her marriage to Khan was ruled unlawful.

Khan and his party say the charges were politically motivated to thwart his return to power.

In recent months, Pakistani courts have suspended Khan's jail sentences for two cases about the illegal acquisition and sale of state gifts, while overturning his conviction on charges of leaking state secrets.

The former cricket superstar is fighting dozens of other cases that continue.

(Reporting by Ariba Shahid in Karachi; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Clarence Fernandez)