Imran Khan's detention extended, former PM remanded to jail

The detention of former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan was extended on Wednesday (August 30) as he was remanded to jail over leaked documents case. The extension has come despite suspension his prison term just a day earlier.

Khan is facing a slew of legal cases. He alleges that the cases against him are politically motivated.

"Imran Khan's judicial remand in the Cipher case has been extended for 14 days," Khan's lawyer Salman Safdar told AFP after the hearing. 

Another court suspended Imran Khan's three-year prison term for graft. He was handed the sentence earlier this month. This judgment has kept him from contesting upcoming elections.

In spite of suspension of the sentence, authorities at Attock prison kept him in custody. The prison is 60 kilometres (37 miles) west of Pakistani capital Islamabad.

"This constitutes a manipulation of justice," Muhammad Shoaib Shaheen, another of Khan's lawyers, said Tuesday. 

The hearing that took place on Wednesday was held under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act. Only lawyers were present.

The case relates to cable that Khan had claimed was a proof that a US conspiracy was responsible for his ouster. He had also alleged that Pakistan military was in on the conspiracy.

The allegations have been denied by Pakistan military and the US.

Watch | Cipher case: Former Pakistani PM Imran Khan gets 14-day judicial remand

Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the vice chairman of Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party and also a former foreign minister, has been arrested over the same case as well.

Earlier this month, Khan was handed three-year sentence after he was found guilty by a judge of failing to declare gifts he had received while he was in the prime ministerial office.

Khan was subsequently banned by Pakistan's election commission from contesting elections for five years.

On Tuesday however, the court said that the prison sentence was short enough to be set aside. Khan's team argued that there were "serious jurisdictional defects" in the conviction and that it was made in "undue haste". It argued that it was not allowed to present witnesses.

Also Read | Delicious curries, a big bed & more: Imran Khan's time in jail was not as bad, reports suggest

An appeal against the conviction is pending. 

Imran Khan, a former international sports icon-turned-politician, finds himself tangled in more than 200 cases. He continues to argue that these cases have been designed so that he can't win the upcoming election.

In the month of May, Khan was also briefly detained on graft charges. This had sparked days of civil unrest as his supporters chose to hold violent protests across the country.

Since then, PTI has been targetted by a substantial crackdown from the authorities. This has vastly diminished street power of the party. Most of his senior leadership has jumped ship or has been locked away.

(With inputs from agencies)

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