Former Prime Minister Imran Khan, currently in Attock Jail, has filed a plea in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday, seeking to challenge his recent conviction in the Toshakhana case by a trial court.
The two-member bench comprising IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri will take up the petition on Wednesday.
Imran Khan was sentenced to three years in prison by a trial court in Islamabad on August 5, which also led to his disqualification from contesting general elections.
The case, filed by ruling party lawmakers, accused him of deliberately concealing details of gifts received from the Toshakhana, a repository where presents from foreign officials to government officials are kept, during his tenure as the Prime Minister.
It alleged that he had not reported these gifts to the Cabinet Division and had failed to disclose proceeds from their reported sales.
In his plea filed through his lawyers, Imran Khan contended that the trial court’s verdict was “tainted with bias” and had been predetermined to convict him “irrespective of the merits of the case.”
He claimed that the trial judge, ADSJ Dilawar, had shown extreme bias throughout the proceedings and had refused to hear arguments from his counsel, Khawaja Haris, on the pretext of being late.
Imran’s plea argued that the judgment was issued without providing him a fair chance to present his case, and the verdict was allegedly written in advance, as evidenced by the short time taken by the judge to dictate the extensive judgment.
Furthermore, the plea asserted that there was no evidence presented by the prosecution regarding the Toshakhana gifts, and none of the witnesses provided by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) offered any evidence against Imran.
The former Prime Minister’s legal team urged the Islamabad High Court to set aside the trial court’s verdict, declare his conviction and sentence as “illegal and without lawful authority,” and acquit him of all charges in the Toshakhana case.
