Imran Khan: Pakistan court dismisses murder charges against former prime minister

Khan remains in high-security Attock prison in connection with a corruption case

File: Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan (Associated Press)

A Pakistani court on Monday dismissed murder charges against former prime minister Imran Khan, his lawyer said.

“God be praised,” his lawyer Naeem Panjutha wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday.

Panjutha said that the charges, which were related to the murder of a lawyer in the southern city of Quetta, had been dropped by the Balochistan High Court.

Mr Khan was accused of the murder in June this year, and has been grappling with this and around 170 other cases brought against him since he was ousted from office. He has denied the charges, which range from graft to sedition, as politically motivated.

He was arrested earlier this month in relation to a corruption case and remains in detention.

Earlier this month, a trial court found Mr Khan guilty of illegally selling state gifts, locally known as the Toshakhana case, and sentenced him to jail for three years. A separate hearing was also taking place on Monday at the Islamabad High Court in which Mr Khan’s lawyers were appealing for that conviction to be suspended.

Abdul Razzaq Shar, a senior advocate, was murdered by unidentified individuals riding three motorcycles on 6 June. The attack on him took place as he was on his way to the Balochistan High Court, local media reported.

The slain lawyer’s son had registered a First Information Report (an initial chargesheet that represents the first step in criminal investigations in Pakistan) with the police against Mr Khan and others from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Ataullah Tarar, special assistant to prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, said at the time that the murder was closely connected to a treason case against Mr Khan, which Shar had been working on.

Mr Khan remains in the high-security Attock prison in connection with a corruption case.

Khan was arrested immediately after the court sentence in the eastern city of Lahore.

He was also barred from politics for five years by the Election Commission of Pakistan.

Mr Khan’s close aide and adviser Zulfiqar Ali Bukhari told TheIndependent earlier this month the former prime minister’s political career was “far from over” despite the growing number of criminal charges being brought against him.