Peshawar High Court (PHC) awarded protective bail on Wednesday to Pakistan Tehreek-E-Insaf (PTI) leaders Shibli Faraz and Zartaj Gul, who were recently sentenced to 10 years in prison in connection with the May 9 riots, Express News reported.
The bench, after announcing the reserved judgment of their petition, allowed both leaders to bail until August 11 and ordered them to turn to the relevant Supreme Court to submit their appeals within this period.
The court also ordered that the two were not arrested during this time.
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The decision follows last week’s decision by a special anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Faisalabad, who sentenced over 100 PTI leaders for their alleged involvement in the 9th of May-URO.
Among the convicted were the opposition leader in the National Assembly Omar Ayub, Senate’s opposition leader Shibli Faraz, Zartaj Yellow, MNA SaHibzada Hamid Raza and the former MNA Sheikh Rashid Shafiq. ATC acquitted 77 of the 185 individuals involved in the cases.
Then, the election commission in Pakistan (ECP) disqualified nine PTI-affiliated legislators on Tuesday, including Ayub and Faraz.
A notification issued by the Commission declared a Senate and five national assemblies unemployed along with three Punjab assembly seats. Other disqualified include Zartaj Yellow, SaHibzada Hamid Raza, Junaid Afzal Sahi, Rai Hassan Nawaz, Rai Murtaza Iqbal, Rai Haider Ali and Ansar Iqbal.
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It is relevant to mention that a Lahore ATC had sentenced ten PTI leaders last month, including Dr. Yasmin Rashid, to up to 10 years in prison, while an ATC in Sargodha handed a similar verdict such as PTI Punjab assembly leader Malik Ahmed Khan Bhachar and other party workers.
May 9th riots
Riot 9 May broke out nationwide after the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, after which PTI leaders and workers staged protests aimed at both civilian and military installations, including Jinnah House and General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi.
The military condemned the events as a “black day” and decided to try the protesters under the Army Act.
As a result of the turmoil, many PTI members were arrested and tried in military courts. In December, a military court sentenced 25 individuals, including Imran Khan’s nephew, Hassan Khan Niazi, and later sentenced 60.
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In January, 19 had their sentences pardoned after successful mercy appeals, although PTI expressed dissatisfaction with the limited number of pardens.
The military lawsuits were originally stopped after a Supreme Court Recovery, but were resumed following the court’s instructions to end pending cases and advertise judgments for those involved in the violent incidents.
