Pakistan Supreme Court Declares Arrest of Former PM Imran Khan Unlawful

On Thursday, the Supreme Court Of Pakistan declared the execution of the arrest warrant issued by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on May 1 in the Al-Qadir Trust case against Imran Khan as “invalid” and “unlawful”.

The bench of Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Athar Minallah said, “The execution of said warrant violated the petitioner’s right of access to justice and the sanctity and safety of the Court as he had already surrendered to the Court for seeking judicial relief against the action taken by NAB in the Al-Qadir Trust case.”

The Court was hearing the petition filed by his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) challenging his arrest.

The PTI chief Imran Khan was arrested on May 1 by Pakistani Rangers from outside the Islamabad High Court in connection with the corruption charges in Al-Qadir Trust case.

It is reported that former prime minister, along with his wife Bushra Bibi and other PTI leaders, are facing a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) inquiry for allegedly accepting Rs 5 billion and hundreds of kanals (of land) from Bahria Town (an Islamabad-based real estate company) in exchange for protecting the firm in a money laundering case.

Furthermore, it is alleged that the accused received the land as a donation for the purpose of establishing a university through a non-profit organization called Al-Qadir Trust.

Reportedly the organization had only two trustees, Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi. It is alleged that agreement between the company and the PTI government resulted in a loss of 190 million pounds to the national treasury.

The Court while declaring the arrest unlawful said that, the fundamental rights of Khan under “Articles 4, 9, 10-A and 14 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan have been infringed”.

Article 4 states that,“no action detrimental to the life, liberty, body, reputation or property of any person shall be taken except in accordance with law.”

Article 9 mandates that,“no person shall be deprived of life or liberty saves in accordance with law.”It is similar to Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.

Article 10-A provides the right to free trial and Article 14 states that “the dignity of man and, subject to law, the privacy of home, shall be inviolable.(2) No person shall be subjected to torture for the purpose of extracting evidence”.

The Court has further directed Khan to be produced before the Islamabad High Court on May 12 at 11:00 am for the hearing of the Writ Petition filed by him to challenge the NAB action against him in the Al-Qadir Trust Case.

“In order to ensure the security of the petitioner until his appearance in the High Court on 12.05.2023 at 11:00 am, he shall remain in the premises where he is presently retained in police custody”, the Court said.

Case Title: Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi v.The State and others