Khan’s written apology for remarks he made against authorities at a rally in August has been approved by the five-member bench.
Imran Khan was released from a contempt charge after a court in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad accepted his written apologies for remarks he made in August against a female judge.
The five-member panel, presided over by Athar Minallah, Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), expressed pleasure with the apology on Monday and noted that the decision was unanimous.
Following a speech Khan gave at a public event in Islamabad on August 20, during which he threatened “action” against Judge Zeba Chaudhry and senior Islamabad police officials for detaining his top aide Shahbaz Gill, whom he claimed police had tortured in detention, Khan was charged with contempt of court.
Following comments made on a TV programme, Gill was accused of seeking to foment a rebellion in Pakistan’s strong military, an accusation that Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party disputes.
Khan ultimately apologised for his remarks at the most recent hearing on September 22 after originally refusing to do so.
He may have been barred from standing in the upcoming election, which is slated for October of next year, if he had been found guilty.
Khan was granted bail on Sunday after an arrest warrant was issued for the identical remarks he made in the August address, which are still the subject of another case before the courts. For the same remarks, he has been accused of violating many provisions of the Pakistani Penal Code.
For the speech on August 20, he had also been accused under the nation’s terrorism legislation; however, a judge dismissed the accusations last month. According to the IHC, Khan’s remarks did not justify filing a complaint under the severe Anti-Terrorism Act, which carries a possible sentence of life in prison or possibly the death penalty.
In April of this year, a legislative vote of no confidence brought down Khan’s administration. Since then, he has been holding demonstrations around the nation to call for early elections.
Additionally, he claims that his administration was overthrown as part of a US-led international regime change plot. Both US and Pakistani authorities have refuted this claim.
