A local court in Pakistan on Saturday acquitted former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife of charges related to violating Islamic marriage laws, effectively making Khan a legally free man.
A district court in Islamabad has ordered prison authorities to immediately release Khan unless there is another case pending against him.
The cricketer-turned-politician faces multiple charges in more than 100 cases, with his sentences and convictions in other cases suspended or quashed by the courts.
“There is no case that could keep Khan in prison,” a party spokesman told dpa.
However, Khan will not be released from prison immediately.
The party said Khan’s bail was rejected by a court in the eastern city of Lahore this week before his arrest in a false case accusing him of involvement in bloody riots last year.
The party said major obstacles had been removed and Khan would soon be a free man.
Khan married Bushra Bibi for the third time in 2018 and was accused of violating the marriage law. Bibi’s ex-husband alleged that she married Khan without waiting for the full term agreed upon after their divorce.
The former sports star was ousted in April 2022 by a motion of no confidence in parliament.
Khan, once backed by the country’s powerful military, seems unlikely to return to politics after he has fallen out of favor with the generals who have ruled the nuclear-armed Islamic republic for decades.
On Friday, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Pakistan Justice Movement, PTI) became the largest party in parliament after the Supreme Court ordered the election body not to strip the party of seats reserved for women and minorities.
