Pakistan: Ex-PM Imran Khan secures bail in murder case

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday secured bail from Islamabad's High Court.

This blocks his arrest in an abetment for murder case for 14 days. Dozens of other charges have also been raised against him.

The Pakistani daily Dawn reported Khan also received bail in 16 other cases from Islamabad's High Court, anti-terrorism court and district court.

His lawyer Gohar Khan said that Imran Khan had traveled to Islamabad from his home in Lahore to seek bail in over a dozen cases to avoid a new arrest.

According to Dawn, the former prime minister also appeared at the National Accountability Bureau's office in the northern city of Rawalpindi for an investigation into corruption allegations.

Also on Thursday, Imran Khan said in a video to supporters that he will "fight this system of oppression till my last breath."

Why is Pakistan facing a political crisis?

The ousted leader was initially arrested on May 9 and held for three days on corruption charges. He is now free on bail in a range of other criminal cases.

The initial charges were levied against Khan after he was ousted in a no-confidence vote in April 2022.

The arrest sparked protests by supporters of Imran Khan's Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party who attacked military facilities.

Khan argues that the cases against him are to ensure that he is excluded from elections later this year.

On Wednesday, Pakistan's military denied allegations of human rights abuses without naming the former prime minister explicitly. Khan and his supporters have claimed that they have been subject to torture as part of a crackdown against them.

Late last month, officials announced that a travel ban had been imposed on Khan, his wife and hundreds of his political aides.

What is the abetment to murder case against Imran Khan?

On Wednesday, police registered an "abetment to murder" case against Imran Khan over the killing of a lawyer by unknown gunmen.

The slain lawyer, Abdul Razzaq Shar, had filed a court petition seeking sedition proceedings against Khan for dissolving the government after the no-confidence motion.

Police said that Shar was shot and killed by men on a motorcycle on Tuesday when he was on his way to court in Quetta in the southwestern Balochistan region.

It was not immediately clear how the link between the gunmen and Khan had been established.

This report was written in part with material from Reuters.

Edited by: Rebecca Staudenmaier