Pakistan’s opposition leader Imran Khan was released from police custody after the country’s Supreme Court declared his arrest unlawful. Khan’s lawyers argued that his detention from court premises in Islamabad was illegal. The court’s decision follows violent protests across Pakistan, which resulted in at least ten deaths and 2,000 arrests. Khan’s arrest had further escalated tensions between him and the military, which he has been at odds with since his ousting in a confidence vote in April 2022.
The former cricketer was brought to court on the orders of Pakistan’s top judge and surrounded by security upon his arrival. The Supreme Court judges told him that his arrest was invalid because of the way he had been arrested. Khan was then under the protection of the Supreme Court, and the court has determined that he must remain at a police guesthouse for security reasons.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has maintained that the cases against him are politically motivated. The arrest has enraged his supporters, and the past 48 hours have seen widespread violence and rare attacks on state and military facilities. Seven senior PTI leaders, including former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, have also been arrested. They are accused of inciting violence, which Qureshi denies, calling the cases against him and his colleagues politically motivated.
