Pakistan ex-PM Imran Khan granted bail, but release uncertain

Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to former Prime Minister Imran Khan and one of his aides in a case related to an alleged leak of state secrets, his lawyer said.

It was not immediately clear if Khan would be released from jail as he has multiple arrest warrants issued against him in several other cases, said Salman Safdar, one of Khan’s lawyers.

Khan, a former cricket star, has been in jail since August after his conviction on corruption charges in a separate case.

Despite Friday’s bail, Khan remains disqualified from contesting national elections scheduled for Feb. 8 by virtue of the corruption conviction, which a high court refused to suspend on Thursday. He still plans on filing his nomination papers ahead of a Sunday deadline, his party said.

He was imprisoned on Aug. 5 after being sentenced to three years’ jail on charges of unlawfully selling state gifts during his 2018-22 tenure as prime minister. He denies any wrongdoing and says the charges are politically motivated.

PTI’s main election opponent in February will be former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s party.

He says he is being targeted by the powerful military, which wants to keep him out of the polls. The military denies the charge.