Bushra Bibi, the wife of former prime minister Imran Khan, filed a request on Wednesday to be transferred from their Banigala home, which had been designated a sub-jail, to Adiala Jail, where her husband is presently serving a sentence. The Islamabad High Court (IHC) granted her request. The verdict was rendered by Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, who had reserved it for the previous week. Even though Bushra Bibi’s petition was dismissed last month because her attorneys neglected to show up for court, a plea was submitted that same day asking for its reinstatement. According to her request, she has already been moved to a female section of the jail, PTI attorney Intazar Hussain Panjutha told AFP.
After being sentenced to 14 years in prison by an accountability court in Islamabad for the Toshakhana matter, the former first lady was brought into custody on January 31. Although their sentences in the Toshakhana reference were suspended by the IHC on April 1, she is still being held in the Iddat case. In other cases, Imran continues to be detained. Bushra had come to Adiala Jail, where the National Accountability Bureau team was already present, to turn himself into the authorities in the wake of the Toshakhana ruling. The anti-graft watchdog later arrested her. But after it was announced as a sub-jail in a late-night announcement, she was relocated to her Banigala house.
However, following a late-night notification designating it as a sub-jail, she was relocated to her Banigala residence. Since she and her husband refused to apply to designate the property as a sub-jail, the topic of her moving to the residence has been discussed for months. Bushra Bibi had contested the residence’s classification as a sub-jail and pleaded with the IHC to allow her to serve the remainder of her 14-year sentence in Adiala Jail, about a week after her detention. The management of Adiala Jail had objected to her being sent back to the prison in a later session, saying that the former first lady’s security was at risk due to overcrowding. Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb had questioned in March if Imran had been consulted before the authorities turned his Banigala home into a sub-jail.
