• Cites medical condition, seeks relief under CrPC provisions
• Alleges prolonged solitary confinement and denial of adequate medical care

ISLAMABAD: Former first lady Bushra Imran on Thursday approached the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC), seeking suspension of the seven-year sentence awarded to her on Jan 17, 2025, by the Accountability Court in the Al-Qadir Trust case.

Filed through Advocate Salman Safdar, the criminal appeal contends that the appellant, being a woman with a serious medical condition, is entitled to suspension of her sentence, as similar relief is contemplated under the first proviso to Section 497(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

The appeal was filed days after the Supreme Court announced on July 24 that it could not hear bail applications in pending National Accountability Bureau (NAB) appeals. Consequently, all pending criminal appeals were transferred to the newly established FCC.

Moved under Section 32-A of the National Accountability Ordinance, read with Article 175F(1)(a) of the Constitution, the appeal also alleges that, despite earlier directions issued by the Islamabad High Court to the authorities at Central Jail Adiala to facilitate a meeting between the appellant and her counsel, the jail authorities failed to comply.

Instead, her counsel was permitted to meet the appellant’s husband, Imran Khan, who disclosed that both he and the appellant were being unlawfully kept in solitary confinement. According to the appeal, they were denied access to family members, friends, legal counsel, political party members, and even to each other. They were also deprived of books and television, subjecting them to complete isolation from human contact and denying them information about the outside world.

The appeal states that these allegations were subsequently confirmed by the appellant’s daughters when they met her after her eye surgery on April 17, 2026.

According to the petition, such treatment amounts to an unauthorised enhancement of sentence, violates the prisoners’ fundamental rights to life and dignity guaranteed under Article 9 of the Constitution, and warrants the FCC’s immediate intervention.

The appeal argues that the appellant’s prolonged solitary confinement has seriously affected her physical and mental health. It maintained that despite her deteriorating condition and eye surgery, she continues to be held in unlawful isolation in violation of prison rules.

The appeal states that the appellant underwent eye surgery during her incarceration without her counsel or family being informed. It added that when her daughters met her after the procedure, they found her in a visibly distressed condition.

The petition argues that such treatment of a medically compromised prisoner, particularly a woman, is manifestly cruel, inhumane, degrading, and wholly inconsistent with the constitutional guarantees of dignity and humane treatment.

The appeal further contends that the prosecution alleged that the appellant and her husband, through their associate Farhat Shahzadi, received 240 kanals of land from co-accused Ahmad Ali Riaz Malik for personal gain.

However, it argues that the evidence on record establishes that the entire amount was deposited into an account maintained with the National Bank of Pakistan in the name of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

The appeal argues that the prosecution failed to prove any personal benefit to the appellant, warranting suspension of her sentence.

The petition further maintains that, despite the serious allegations, the prosecution failed to discharge its burden of proof in accordance with the law regarding any alleged personal benefit accruing to the appellant.

The appeal also alleges that the NAB selectively prosecuted them, while deliberately excluding six other individuals who were implicated in the matter.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2026