According to Pakistani and foreign media outlets, Pakistan’s Supreme Court today ruled that former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s arrest was unconstitutional and ordered his release from the custody of the country’s anti-graft agency.
“Your arrest was invalid so the whole process needs to be backtracked,” AFP news agency quited as saying Pakkistan’s chief justice Umar Ata Bandial as saying as the ex-premier was brought before the apex court which earlier today ordered him to be produced before the apex court.
According to Reuters, Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered the anti-graft National Accountability Bureau to free Khan on Thursday.
Khan was brought before the Supreme Court after the court ordered the country’s anti-corruption authority to do so as it heard his appeal against his dramatic arrest in a graft case.
According to Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper, Khan was presented in court shortly after 5:45pm “via the judges’ gate” amid tight security.
Khan’s arrest in a land fraud case on Tuesday provoked deadly and widespread protests around the South Asian country, leading the government to bring in the army to help restore calm.
