Islamabad:

The Registrar Office of the Capital Supreme Court has stated that this year it is not possible to list to hear the appeals filed by former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his spouse Bushra Bibi against their conviction in the case of 190 million. Pounds due to an backlog of pending appeals.

The registrar office has submitted a written report to a division bench led by IHC functioning Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Asif, who heard an application filed by PTI for early list of the appeals.

The report stated that in accordance with a decision made by the National Judicial (Policy Making) Committee (NJPMC) in his 51th meeting held on December 9, 2022, IHC formulated a “fixation policy” on February 6, 2024, for early disposal of cases pending before that.

In its proposals, the committee had requested the high courts to accelerate the verdict of appeals of criminal and non-confirmed condemned prisoners pending for more than two years.

It said that special benches may have been appointed to speed up the assessment of approved appeals from criminal and non-affirmed condemned prisoners pending for more than five years within two months.

According to the report, 279 appeals have awaited before IHC. These include 63 appeals against the death penalty; 73 Appeals against the Judges on Lifetime Prison; 88 appeals against more than 7-year judgments and 55 appeals against penalties involving less than seven-year judgments.

The report stated that the oldest appeal pending in IHC goes back to a 2017 and has been filed against a death sentence. It said that all appeals are listed on their trip from the list maintained by the office, which is determined from the date of the institution of these appeals.

“The subject appeal [by Imran] has been filed at 31.01.2025, whereby the appellant has been sentenced to 14 years in prison and lying in the movement stage.

“After its recording, paperbooks are required to be prepared. So far, it is concerned, given the direction of the NJPMC fixing for regular hearing reproduced on para-4, is not in sight during the calendar year 2025,” it added.

A Court of Accountability On January 18, Imran Khan and his wife convicted Bushra Bibi in the £ 190m case, convicting Khan to 14 years and his wife seven years in prison.

Judge Nasir Javed Rana announced the verdict – previously delayed three times – in a provisional courtroom in Adiala Prison.

The court also imposed a good value of RS1 million on the PTI founder and RS0.5 million on Bushra. In the event of not submitting the fine, Imran would face another six months in prison, while Bushra Bibi would earn three months to jail.