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[1/3] Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan pauses as he speaks with Reuters during an interview, in Lahore, Pakistan March 17, 2023. It has been conducting the trial in prison since Khan was indicted on the charges last month. The Islamabad High Court had ruled last week that holding Khan's trial inside jail premises on security concerns was illegal, and ordered it restarted in an open court. The 71-year-old former cricket star has been embroiled in a tangle of political and legal battles since he was ousted as prime minister. The election is shaping as a fight between Khan's party and that of another ousted former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif.

Persons: Imran Khan, Akhtar Soomro, Khan, Naeem Panjutha, Nawaz Sharif, Asif Shahzad, Kim Coghill, Raju Gopalakrishnan Organizations: Pakistani, Reuters, REUTERS, Court, Twitter, Thomson Locations: Lahore, Pakistan, ISLAMABAD, Islamabad, United States

Security officers escort Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan, as he appeared in Islamabad High Court, Islamabad, Pakistan May 12, 2023. The former cricket star has been embroiled in a tangle of political and legal battles since he was ousted as prime minister in a vote on no-confidence in 2022, which he denounced as unfair. "The court has ordered that Imran Khan be produced on Nov. 28," Khan's lawyer, Naeem Panjutha, said in a post on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. A spokesperson for the law ministry, which will decide if Khan is to appear, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The 71-year-old was jailed on Aug. 5 for three years for unlawfully selling state gifts during his tenure as prime minister from 2018 to 2022.

Persons: Imran Khan, Akhtar Soomro, Naeem Panjutha, Khan, Nawaz Sharif, Asif Shahzad, Kim Coghill, Robert Birsel Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Court, Thomson Locations: Islamabad, Court, Pakistan, Rights ISLAMABAD

Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan, gestures as he speaks to the members of the media at his residence in Lahore, Pakistan May 18, 2023. REUTERS/Mohsin Raza/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsISLAMABAD, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Pakistan's Supreme Court accepted on Wednesday a bail application from detained former Prime Minister Imran Khan, his lawyer said, a day after another court declared illegal his trial on charges of leaking state secrets. The 71-year-old was jailed on Aug. 5 for three years jail for unlawfully selling state gifts during his tenure as prime minister from 2018 to 2022. His lawyer said the Supreme Court had accepted the bid for bail. No date had been set for the hearing, he said, adding that the Supreme Court would seek input from the government on the application.

Persons: Imran Khan, Mohsin Raza, Naeem Panjutha, Khan, Nawaz Sharif, Sharif, Asif Shahzad, Robert Birsel Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Twitter, Court, Thomson Locations: Lahore, Pakistan, Rights ISLAMABAD, Islamabad, United States

[1/2] Afghan nationals rest at a camp after returning from Pakistan at the Torkham border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan, November 14, 2023. Islamabad last month announced it would expel over a million undocumented refugees, mostly Afghans, amid a row with Kabul over charges that it harbours anti-Pakistan militants. Over 370,000 Afghans have fled Pakistan since Oct. 1. The agency has said the Afghans' return should be voluntary and that Pakistan should identify vulnerable individuals who need international protection. Pakistan is home to over 4 million Afghan migrants and refugees, about 1.7 million of whom are undocumented.

Persons: Abdul Khaliq Sediqi, Afghanis, Babar Baloch, Asif Shahzad, Bernadette Baum Organizations: REUTERS, UNHCR, UNHCR Police, Wednesday, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Pakistan, Afghanistan, ISLAMABAD, Islamabad, Kabul, Karachi, Taliban, U.S

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan speaks with Reuters during an interview, in Lahore, Pakistan March 17, 2023. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro Acquire Licensing RightsISLAMABAD, Nov 21 (Reuters) - A Pakistani court on Tuesday declared the trial in jail of former Prime Minister Imran Khan on charges of leaking state secrets illegal, his lawyer said. "Islamabad High Court has declared illegal the notification for jail trial," said Naeem Panjutha, the lawyer, in a post on social media platform X. An order declared all proceedings of the trial conducted since Aug. 29 as void. "The proceedings and the trial conducted in jail premises in a manner that cannot be termed as an open trial stand vitiated," said the court order.

Persons: Imran Khan, Akhtar Soomro, Khan, Naeem Panjutha, Nawaz Sharif, Asif Shahzad, Ed Osmond, Nick Macfie Organizations: Pakistani, Reuters, REUTERS, Rights, Court, Thomson Locations: Lahore, Pakistan, Rights ISLAMABAD, Islamabad, United States

ISLAMABAD, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Pakistan's three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is scheduled to arrive back home on Saturday after four years of self-imposed exile in London to kick-start his party campaign three months ahead of a general election. Sharif has not set foot in Pakistan since he left for London in 2019 to receive medical treatment while serving a 14-year prison sentence for corruption. When he was removed as premier in 2017, Pakistan's GDP growth rate was 5.8% and inflation was hovering around just 4%. In September, inflation registered at over 31% year-on-year, and growth is projected to be less than 2% this financial year. "Over his long political career, Sharif's relationship with the military brass has blown hot and cold.

Persons: Nawaz Sharif, Sharif, Imran Khan, Khan, Sharif's, Shehbaz Sharif, Michael Kugelman, Asif Shahzad, Stephen Coates Organizations: London, International Monetary Fund, South Asia, The Wilson, Thomson Locations: ISLAMABAD, London, Lahore, Dubai, Pakistan

Ousted Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif gestures as he boards a Lahore-bound flight due for departure, at Abu Dhabi International Airport, UAE July 13, 2018. REUTERS/Drazen Gorgic/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsISLAMABAD, Oct 19 (Reuters) - A Pakistan court on Thursday barred authorities from arresting a former three-time prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, upon his expected return home on Saturday from four years in self-imposed exile, his lawyer said. Nawaz Sharif was in 2018 convicted on corruption charges, which he denied, in two cases and sentenced to a total of 14 years in prison. Upon his return on Saturday, he would address a rally in his old stronghold of Lahore, Tarar said. Sharif returned to Pakistan and to politics in 2007.

Persons: Nawaz Sharif, Drazen Gorgic, Azam Nazeer Tarar, Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif, Tarar, Pervez Musharraf, Musharraf, Asif Shahzad, Muralikumar Anantharaman, Robert Birsel Organizations: Pakistani, Abu, Abu Dhabi International Airport, REUTERS, Rights, Thomson Locations: Lahore, Abu Dhabi, UAE, Rights ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, London, U.S

REUTERS/Fayaz Aziz/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsISLAMABAD, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Pakistan said on Friday that it would repatriate all illegal immigrants including hundreds of thousands of Afghan nationals in orderly phases rather than in one go. She did not have exact data on the total number of illegal immigrants, including Afghans. Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti said on Tuesday some 1.73 million Afghans in Pakistan had no legal documents and the number of Afghan refugees in Pakistan totalled 4.4 million. Pakistan has hosted the largest number of Afghan refugees since the Soviet invasion of Kabul in 1979. Pakistan's foreign minister Jalil Abbas Jilani defended the order for the departure of illegal immigrants, saying no other country allowed illegal immigrants to stay and live.

Persons: Fayaz Aziz, frayed, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, Sarfraz Bugti, Bugti, Jalil Abbas Jilani, Hong, Albee Zhang, Ryan Woo, Robert Birsel, William Maclean Organizations: United Nations, Refugees, REUTERS, Rights, Aid, Phoenix TV, Thomson Locations: Pakistan, Peshawar, Rights ISLAMABAD, Islamabad, Kabul, Afghanistan, U.S, Tibet, Beijing

Rescue workers clear the rubble from a damaged mosque, after a suicide blast in Hangu, Pakistan September 29, 2023. It was not immediately clear how Pakistani authorities could ensure the illegal immigrants leave, or how they could find them to expel them. Bugti said some 1.73 million Afghan nationals in Pakistan had no legal documents to stay, adding a total of 4.4 million Afghan refugees lived in Pakistan. "There are no two opinions that we are attacked from within Afghanistan and Afghan nationals are involved in attacks on us," he said. Islamabad has received the largest influx of Afghan refugees since the Soviet invasion of Kabul in 1979.

Persons: Stringer, Sarfraz Bugti, Bugti, Asif Shahzad, Jon Boyle, Nick Macfie Organizations: REUTERS, Afghan, State, Thomson Locations: Hangu, Pakistan, ISLAMABAD, Kabul, Afghanistan, Islamabad, Taliban Pakistan, Afghan

[1/2] Lawyers, some of them look on television screen, dispaying the live broadcast of the proceeding from the Supreme Court of Pakistan, at the Sindh High Court Bar Association in Karachi, Pakistan September 18, 2023. The move marks the beginning of the tenure of new Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa as Pakistan's top judge. Isa's first move as the top judge was to open proceedings for live broadcast. "It is a majority consensus decision to telecast live," Isa said at the start of proceedings shown live by state-run broadcaster Pakistan Television. Previous attempts to broadcast proceedings live had been blocked by the court.

Persons: Akhtar Soomro, Qazi Faez Isa, Isa, Umar Ata Bandial, Isa's, Shehbaz Sharif, Anwar ul Haq Kakar, Imran Khan, Faiz Hameed, Asif Shahzad, Mark Potter Organizations: Court Bar Association, REUTERS, Rights, Pakistan Television, Inter - Services Intelligence, Former, Thomson Locations: Pakistan, Sindh, Karachi, Rights ISLAMABAD

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, gestures as he speaks with Reuters during an interview, in Lahore, Pakistan March 17, 2023. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsISLAMABAD, Aug 30 (Reuters) - A Pakistani court on Wednesday extended the jail custody of former prime minister Imran Khan for 14 days to investigate him on charges of leaking state secrets, his lawyer said. A court suspended that sentence on Tuesday and said Khan could be released on bail, but he was barred from leaving as he was still under remand in the official secrets case. His top aide, former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, has already been arrested and questioned in the case. Reporting by Asif Shahzad; Editing by Simon Cameron-MooreOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Imran Khan, Akhtar Soomro, Naeem Panjutha, Khan, Khan's, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Asif Shahzad, Simon Cameron, Moore Organizations: Pakistani, Reuters, REUTERS, Rights, Federal Investigation Agency, FIA, Thomson Locations: Lahore, Pakistan, Rights ISLAMABAD, Attock, United States, Russia, Ukraine, Washington

"We feel that the applicant is entitled to the suspension of sentence and be released on bail," it said. Khan's lawyer Naeem Panjutha also announced the suspension on social media, saying "God be praised." Nor will the suspension of the corruption sentence undo the ban on Khan's contesting elections as long as the conviction remains. STATE SECRETSPakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan, gestures as he speaks to the members of the media at his residence in Lahore, Pakistan May 18, 2023. The possible overturning of Khan's graft conviction is pending a detailed hearing in the court, according to a lawyer Abdul Moiz Jaferii.

Persons: Khan, Imran, Khan's, Naeem Panjutha, Imran Khan, Mohsin Raza, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Abdul Moiz Jaferii, Jaferii, abetment, Zulfikar Bukhari, Asif Shahzad, Gibran Peshimam, Ariba Shahid, Simon Cameron, Moore, Alex Richardson, Angus MacSwan Organizations: ISLAMABAD, Reuters, REUTERS, Federal Investigation Agency, FIA, Thomson Locations: Pakistan, Lahore, United States, Russia, Ukraine, Washington, Islamabad, Karachi

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan pauses as he speaks with Reuters during an interview, in Lahore, Pakistan March 17, 2023. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsISLAMABAD, Aug 28 (Reuters) - A Pakistani court dismissed murder abetment charges against former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday, his lawyer said, providing some relief for the cricket hero turned politician who was jailed on corruption charges earlier this month. Khan had been charged in June with abetting the murder of Supreme Court lawyer Abdul Razzaq, who was killed in a drive-by shooting in the southwestern city of Quetta in the same month. Razzaq's son had accused Khan of being behind his father's murder. The political turmoil has caught Pakistan while the country has been struggling through one of its worst economic crises.

Persons: Imran Khan, Akhtar Soomro, Khan, Abdul Razzaq, Razzaq's, Naeem Panjutha, wasn't, Razzaq, Asif Shahzad, Simon Cameron, Moore Organizations: Pakistani, Reuters, REUTERS, Rights, Twitter, Thomson Locations: Lahore, Pakistan, Rights ISLAMABAD, Quetta, Islamabad

Children receive first aid after they were rescued from the stranded chairlift, in Battagram, Pakistan August 22, 2023. "I can't tell you what we experienced yesterday when one cable of the cable car suddenly snapped and we were stranded in the air," said Faraz, who at 20 years old was the only adult aboard, and the only person with a cell phone. The journey by cable car usually took just a matter of minutes, whereas travelling on the rough mountain roads and tracks takes hours. "Our first priority was to secure the children," caretaker Prime Minister Anwar ul Haq Kakar said, describing the feat as "near impossible". Those prayers were answered for Faraz and the children.

Persons: Gul Faraz, Faraz, Anwar ul Haq Kakar, Kakar, Mushtaq Ali n, Asif Shahzad, Simon Cameron, Moore, Andrew Heavens Organizations: REUTERS Acquire, Commandos, Geo, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Battagram, Pakistan, PESHAWAR, Jhangri, Battangi, Karachi, Mushtaq Ali n Peshawar, Islamabad

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan speaks with Reuters during an interview, in Lahore, Pakistan March 17, 2023. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsISLAMABAD, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Pakistani authorities have opened a criminal investigation against jailed former prime minister Imran Khan on charges of leaking state secrets, after naming him and three aides in a fresh case, a top security source said on Monday. Khan is currently serving a three-year sentence in a graft case and has been barred from politics for five years. "Our investigation is collecting evidence to stand a case in a court to indict Imran Khan on charges of leaking official secrets," a security source, who is directly responsible for the investigation, told Reuters. Khan has formally been arrested in connection with the charges, which the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) is probing, the source said.

Persons: Imran Khan, Akhtar Soomro, Khan, Rauf Hasan, Zulfi Bukhari, Arif Alvi, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Intazar Panjutha, Asif Shahzad, Devika Organizations: Pakistani, Reuters, REUTERS, Rights, Both Washington, Federal Investigation Agency, FIA, Thomson Locations: Lahore, Pakistan, Rights ISLAMABAD, Islamabad, Washington, U.S, Moscow, Ukraine, Both

The rioters were demanding that the two accused men, who had fled their homes, be handed over to them. The troops have cordoned off the Christian colony, blocking all entry and exit points with barbed wire, according to a Reuters TV cameraman. Hundreds of Christians took refuge in a nearby district, a community leader Akmal Bhatti told Reuters, adding that four pastors had returned to the churches, which were still smouldering. "It is the government's responsibility to compensate for the loss of property of the Christian community," he told reporters, adding the government was estimating the losses. The United States was "deeply concerned that churches and homes were targeted," State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said on Wednesday.

Persons: Christian, Akmal Bhatti, Bhatti, Mohsi Naqvi, Vedant Patel, Asif Shahzad, Raju Gopalakrishnan, Simon Cameron, Moore, Alexandra Hudson Organizations: Police, Reuters, Amnesty, State Department, Alexandra Hudson Our, Thomson Locations: LAHORE, Pakistan, Jaranwala, Faisalabad, United States, Islamabad

The two Christians were accused of blasphemy, he said, adding they and family members had fled their homes. Blasphemy is punishable by death in Pakistan and though no one has ever been executed for it, numerous accused people have been lynched by outraged crowds. A Christian leader, Akmal Bhatti, said the crowd had "torched" at least five churches and looted valuables from houses that had been abandoned by their owners. Several social media posts showed some churches, houses and belongings on fire as police stood by. The mob was made up of thousands of people led by local clerics, mainly from an Islamist political party called Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP), a government source said.

Persons: Naveed Ahmad, Shakil Masih, Usman Anwar, Anwar ul Haq Kakar, Akmal Bhatti, Asif Shahzad, Angus MacSwan, Nick Macfie Organizations: Reuters, REUTERS, REUTERS Acquire, Caretaker, Thomson Locations: LAHORE, Pakistan, Jaranwala, Faisalabad, Islamabad

[1/2] A man reads a newspaper, a day after Pakistan's parliament was dissolved by the president on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's advice, at a makeshift stall in Karachi, Pakistan August 10, 2023. As it stands, former prime minister Imran Khan, the main opposition leader, cannot fight this election. There are three main contenders to lead the next government: Khan's PTI, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) of Shehbaz Sharif and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). Three-time premier Nawaz Sharif, the brother of the outgoing prime minister and whose PML-N was the senior partner in the outgoing coalition government, is seeking a return from exile. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, 34, the young chairman of the PPP and son of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, is another key candidate.

Persons: Shehbaz, Akhtar Soomro, Anwaar, Haq Kakar, IMRAN KHAN, Imran Khan, Khan, Nawaz Sharif, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Benazir Bhutto, Khan's jailing, Asif Shahzad, Gibran Peshimam, Raju Gopalakrishnan, Giles Elgood Organizations: REUTERS, BE, Monetary Fund, IMF, Balochistan Awami Party, WHO, PTI, Pakistan Muslim League, Nawaz, Pakistan Peoples Party, Constitutional, Thomson Locations: Karachi, Pakistan, Balochistan, Shehbaz Sharif

ISLAMABAD, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Pakistan's outgoing prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, and the leader of the opposition will on Thursday meet to pick a caretaker leader to oversee a general election due by November, a government official said. Sharif and opposition leader Raja Riaz will meet in the afternoon, said the official in the prime minister's office, who declined to be identified pending the announcement of the meeting. Under the constitution, the two have three days to reach agreement on a caretaker. If they can't, the decision will go to a parliamentary committee, and if it can't, then the Election Commission of Pakistan will decide. The lower house of parliament was dissolved on Wednesday, three days before the end of its five-year term on Aug. 12.

Persons: Shehbaz Sharif, Sharif, Raja Riaz, Imran Khan, Asif Shahzad, Robert Birsel Organizations: Thomson Locations: ISLAMABAD, Pakistan

The parliament's five-year term is due to expire on Aug. 12, but this move would dissolve it three days earlier. "I will tonight advise the president to dissolve the parliament," the premier told parliament. He said he would start discussions with the opposition leader on Thursday to pick a name from candidate lists of both sides to nominate as caretaker prime minister. The vote, however, could be delayed several months with the election commission set to start redrawing hundreds of constituencies based on a fresh census. The last general election in July 2018 was won by the party of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, who was sworn in days later as prime minister for the first time.

Persons: Shehbaz Sharif, Arif Alvi, Imran Khan, Khan, Sharif, Asif Shahzad, Gibran Peshimam, Andrew Heavens, Bernadette Baum Organizations: Pakistan, International Monetary Fund, Thomson Locations: ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Islamabad, Karachi

[1/3] Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan, gestures as he speaks to the members of the media at his residence in Lahore, Pakistan May 18, 2023. REUTERS/Mohsin Raza//File PhotoISLAMABAD, Aug 9 (Reuters) - A Pakistani high court on Wednesday turned down an appeal by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan that his conviction on corruption charges be suspended, his lawyer said, suggesting it was unlikely he would be released on bail anytime soon. The case was adjourned for an indefinite time, Panjutha said, adding; "Our request to suspend the conviction wasn't accepted." Khan, who has denied any wrongdoing, was arrested at his Lahore house and is currently in a prison near Islamabad. Reporting by Asif Shahzad, Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan, Nick Macfie and Bernadette BaumOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Imran Khan, Mohsin Raza, Khan, Naeem Panjutha, Panjutha, wasn't, Asif Shahzad, Raju Gopalakrishnan, Nick Macfie, Bernadette Baum Organizations: REUTERS, Thomson Locations: Lahore, Pakistan, ISLAMABAD, Rawalpindi, Islamabad

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan pauses as he speaks with Reuters during an interview, in Lahore, Pakistan March 17, 2023. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro/File PhotoISLAMABAD, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan challenged his conviction on graft charges in a high court on Tuesday, his lawyer said. Naeem Panjutha said the petition to challenge the weekend conviction had been filed in the Islamabad High court. Khan has been jailed for three years on charges of selling state gifts unlawfully during his tenure as premier from 2018 to 2022. The former premier has been detained at a distant prison which according to his lawyers lacks facilities entitled to political prisoners.

Persons: Imran Khan, Akhtar Soomro, Naeem Panjutha, Khan, Khan's, Asif Shahzad, Kim Coghill Organizations: Pakistani, Reuters, REUTERS, Police, Thomson Locations: Lahore, Pakistan, ISLAMABAD, Islamabad, Attock district

A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) passenger plane prepares to take off from the Benazir International airport in Islamabad, Pakistan, February 9, 2016. REUTERS/Faisal Mahmood/File PhotoISLAMABAD, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Pakistan plans to privatise its loss-making national carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIAa.PSX), the government said on Monday, as the country also seeks to outsource its airport operations in line with an IMF deal. The privatisation decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee of Privatisation chaired by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. The committee "after deliberation decided to include Pakistan International Airlines Co. Ltd in the list of active privatisation projects of the ongoing privatisation programme, following an amendment in the law by the Parliament," a finance ministry statement said. Pakistan hopes to resume PIA flights to Britain in the next three months after services were suspended following a fake pilot scandal.

Persons: Faisal Mahmood, Ishaq Dar, Asif Shahzad, Baranjot Kaur, David Goodman, Mark Potter, Alistair Bell Organizations: Pakistan International Airlines, PIA, Benazir, REUTERS, Finance, Pakistan International Airlines Co . Ltd, PIAInvestment, European Union's Aviation Safety Agency, International Monetary Fund, Pakistan, Baranjot, Thomson Locations: Islamabad, Pakistan, ISLAMABAD, , New York, Britain, Europe, Bengaluru

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan pauses as he speaks with Reuters during an interview, in Lahore, Pakistan March 17, 2023. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro/File PhotoISLAMABAD, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Lawyers for Pakistan's jailed former prime minister Imran Khan will be allowed to meet him on Monday before they file an appeal against a graft conviction that has landed the former cricket star in jail, one of his lawyers said. "The jail authorities have given us a time to meet Imran Khan at 12:30 p.m. (0730 GMT). We've reached Attock jail," one of his lawyers, Naeem Panjhuta, said, adding that an appeal against the graft conviction would be filed after Khan completed paperwork. Khan's legal team is also appealing to authorities to secure him better conditions in jail, Panjhuta told reporters in Islamabad earlier.

Persons: Imran Khan, Akhtar Soomro, Pakistan's, Khan, Naeem Panjhuta, Panjhuta, Shehbaz Sharif, Asif Shahzad, Robert Birsel Organizations: Pakistani, Reuters, REUTERS, Police, Monetary, Thomson Locations: Lahore, Pakistan, ISLAMABAD, Attock district, Islamabad, We've, Attock

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan pauses as he speaks with Reuters during an interview, in Lahore, Pakistan March 17, 2023. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro/File PhotoISLAMABAD, Aug 4 (Reuters) - A Pakistan high court on Friday temporarily halted former Prime Minister Imran Khan's trial on charges he illegally sold state gifts, his lawyer said, in a case that could end the opposition leader's political career if convicted. Khan's legal team had challenged the commission's complaint, arguing that it was not a criminal case and that the judge conducting the trial was biased against Khan. The high court, however, turned down Khan's appeal to remove the trial court judge from hearing the case. The trial, which is in its final stage, relates to an inquiry conducted by the election commission which found Khan guilty of unlawfully selling state gifts during his tenure as prime minister from 2018 to 2022.

Persons: Imran Khan, Akhtar Soomro, Imran Khan's, Khan, Naeem Panjhuta, Farrukh Habib, Asif Shahzad, Jason Neely, Miral Fahmy, Sharon Singleton Organizations: Pakistani, Reuters, REUTERS, Thomson Locations: Lahore, Pakistan, ISLAMABAD, Dubai

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