Legal representatives of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan lodged an appeal on Tuesday contesting his corruption conviction.
Meanwhile, he remains incarcerated in a small cell located within a century-old penitentiary, to begin a punitive three-year incarceration.
Following his conviction in one among the vast array of over 200 cases that have arisen since his removal from office due to a vote of no confidence in April 2022, the erstwhile global cricket sensation was taken into custody during the weekend and promptly dispatched to a correctional facility.
Should the conviction stand unaltered, it will render him ineligible to participate in the forthcoming elections.
Khan was officially disqualified for a five-year period, as announced by Pakistan’s election commission on Tuesday.
He is presently detained within a penitentiary of colonial vintage situated on the fringes of the historic city of Attock, positioned around 60 kilometers (40 miles) west of the capital, Islamabad.
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‘We’ve submitted an appeal… our plea requests a temporary suspension of the trial court’s ruling and seeks bail,’ Khan’s lawyer Gohar Khan told AFP.
‘The court will take up the case tomorrow and because the sentence is short we hope that Imran Khan will be granted bail in (several) weeks’ time.’
Another attorney from his legal team cautioned that the authorities might attempt to prolong the proceedings.
‘Currently, there is no rule of law in Pakistan, we are rushing from one court to another,’ said Mishal Yousafzai.
On Monday, Khan’s spokesman Raoof Hasan told AFP the ex-leader was being held ‘in deplorable conditions not fit for any human’.
‘But he is in good spirits… he said to ‘tell the people that I will not compromise on my principles’.’
The septuagenarian currently occupies what is referred to as a ‘C-class cell,’ where he rests on a floor mattress, with space barely sufficient for a prayer mat.
Daylight access is minimal, and while a fan is provided, there is no air conditioning to mitigate the effects of the summer heat, as Hasan pointed out.
Khan’s legal team, acting under the power of attorney, formally submitted a bail application on his behalf on Tuesday. Additionally, they advocated for his relocation to a more comfortable “A-class cell,” a privilege often afforded to VIP detainees.
At a court hearing that Khan did not attend on Saturday, a judge found him guilty of failing to properly declare gifts he received while in office and sentenced him to three years in jail.
Although the verdict incapacitates Khan from contesting the forthcoming elections, a number of politicians — including the incumbent Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his sibling, ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif — have experienced a revival from their convictions or successfully challenged them, permitting their reentry into the political fold.