Pakistan court overturns ex-PM Imran Khan's illegal marriage conviction

Islamabad: A Pakistan court overturned ex-prime minister Imran Khan's conviction on illegal marriage charges on Saturday, though he remains jailed over allegations of inciting riots.

Khan was slapped with a trio of convictions in the days before February elections - cases he says were orchestrated to prevent his return to power.

Those cases have now all been at least partially rolled back on appeal, with a treason conviction carrying a decade jail term overturned in April, and a 14-year graft sentence suspended in June, though the conviction still stands.

Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi had also been sentenced to seven years for allegedly marrying too soon after her divorce in a breach of Islamic law.

But Islamabad Additional District and Sessions Court judge Afzal Majoka announced in court that the "appeals of both Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi are accepted".

A spokesman for Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said the charges had been "dismissed".

Khan remains locked up, though, after a court this week cancelled his bail over accusations he incited riots by his supporters in May 2023.

UN panel findings

Earlier this month a UN panel of experts found Khan's detention "had no legal basis and appears to have been intended to disqualify him from running for political office".

"Thus, from the outset, that prosecution was not grounded in law and was reportedly instrumentalised for a political purpose," it said, calling for his immediate release after nearly a year in jail.