Islamabad High Court fixes Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi appeals in £190 million case for November 10
The Islamabad High Court has fixed the appeals of former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi against their convictions in the £190 million Al-Qadir Trust case for hearing on November 10, before a two-judge bench led by the chief justice.
The Islamabad High Court has fixed November 10 as the date for hearing the appeals of former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi against their convictions in the £190 million Al-Qadir Trust case, moving one of Pakistan’s most closely watched legal proceedings to its next stage.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Asif will hear the appeals, according to the cause list issued by the Registrar’s Office of the court. The Express Tribune reported the listing on Wednesday evening, and the date and bench were also carried by Hum English, Pakistan Today, Dunya News and UrduPoint.
The appeals challenge the sentences handed down by an accountability court on January 17, 2025. Under that judgment, Imran Khan was sentenced to 14 years in prison and Bushra Bibi to seven years in a reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau.
The case centres on around £190 million that the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency returned to Pakistan in 2019. Prosecutors alleged that the money, linked to property tycoon Malik Riaz, was adjusted in a way that gave undue benefit, and that the Al-Qadir Trust, a welfare organisation established in 2018, sat at the heart of the arrangement. Both Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi have denied wrongdoing and challenged the convictions.
The November 10 listing follows a meeting that had itself become a point of contention. Barrister Salman Safdar, counsel for both appellants, met Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail on November 2, a meeting that lasted about 40 minutes. Reports of the meeting noted that it came after months of repeated requests to the prison authorities, with Pakistan Today recording that Safdar had met Imran Khan after seven months and Bushra Bibi after eleven months.
At the previous hearing, the court had adjourned the proceedings without taking up the matter, following a request by Safdar, and had sought arguments from counsel for the convicts on their appeals challenging the sentences. The fixing of a date for regular hearing now gives those arguments a forum, with lawyers for the parties expected to present detailed submissions before the bench.
A separate strand of the litigation concerns Bushra Bibi’s plea for suspension of her sentence. She approached the Federal Constitutional Court in September seeking an early hearing of that plea, citing deteriorating eyesight and arguing that delays in deciding it were putting her remaining vision at risk. Hum English reported that she had told the court her sentence-suspension plea had remained undecided for about 19 months.
In October 2026, the Federal Constitutional Court declined to interfere with the Islamabad High Court’s handling of the sentence-suspension question, leaving the appeals themselves as the main route through which the convictions are being challenged. That background explains why the November 10 date is being read in legal circles as significant, even though it is a procedural step rather than a decision on the merits.
It is important to be clear about what the listing does and does not mean. Scheduling an appeal for hearing is not the same as suspending a sentence, acquitting an accused person, or ordering a release from prison. Those are separate legal stages, and the court on November 10 may hear arguments, seek further material, or issue directions for how the proceedings will continue.
What happens next will therefore be watched on two levels. In the courtroom, the question is how the bench approaches arguments that have been pending since the convictions of early 2025, and whether the hearing moves quickly toward a substantive decision. Beyond it, the case remains central to the politics of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, whose founder remains in prison while his party presses its legal and political campaign — and the November 10 hearing is now the next fixed point in that long-running contest.
More in Pakistan News
Photo: A PSO petrol station in Hyderabad, Pakistan (file image)
Pakistan NewsPakistan cuts petrol by Rs7.06 and diesel by Rs3.71 a litre for November 5
Petrol falls to Rs362 a litre and high-speed diesel to Rs387.81 under the daily pricing mechanism, the second fuel-price cut in two days.
Photo: The Faisal Mosque in Islamabad (file image)
Pakistan NewsGovernment to turn Islamabad’s One Constitution Avenue into a five-star hotel after JIT finds fraud
The federal cabinet has approved a joint investigation team report that found fraud and rigging in Islamabad’s One Constitution Avenue project, and the government says the tower will be converted into a five-star hotel within months.
Photo: A Pakistan International Airlines aircraft (file image)
Pakistan NewsPIA to launch three direct Islamabad-Birmingham flights a week from December 1
Pakistan International Airlines will run three direct flights a week between Islamabad and Birmingham from December 1, restoring a direct link for travellers in the English Midlands, the airline and Birmingham Airport have announced.