On Thursday, a Pakistani court ordered authorities to produce former Prime Minister Imran Khan for trial on November 28 on charges of leaking state secrets, his lawyer said, in what would be his first public appearance since he was detained in August.
Imran Khan 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 condemned as unfair.
Khan’s lawyer Naeem Panjutha, said in a post on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, “The court has ordered that Imran Khan be produced on November 28. We now have to see that this order is implemented.”
The court quoted procedures, without elaborating, in defining the November 28 date for Khan’s appearance. A spokesperson for the law ministry, which will determine if Khan is to appear, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Khan was jailed on August 5 for three years for unlawfully selling state gifts when he was prime minister from 2018 to 2022.
The former cricket star rejected misconduct and has dismissed all of the various charges brought against him, including graft and the leak of a state secret, as cooked up at the behest of the military to block him from a February 8 general election.
The 71-year-old’s state secret trial was being held in prison after authorities cited security risks but the Islamabad High Court on Tuesday declared the prison trial illegal and ordered that it be restarted, which it did again on Thursday in a public court.
Khan’s legal woes threaten to overshadow the election campaign and both he and his party can be expected to take advantage of a court appearance to reiterate their condemnation of what they say is his unfair treatment.
The election is shaping as a fight between Khan’s party, even though his conviction prevents him from standing, and that of another ousted former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif.
The military, which has ruled directly or overseen civilian governments since Pakistan’s creation in 1947, denies any involvement in Khan’s troubles.
