Pakistan's National Accountability Bureau, an anti-corruption watchdog, brought the charges less than a day after a court in Islamabad acquitted Khan and his wife of an unlawful marriage charge. The couple were sentenced to seven years in prison in February for allegedly marrying too soon after Bibi’s divorce.
The court in Islamabad ordered the watchdog to interrogate the two suspects, currently held at Adiala prison in Rawalpindi, to appear before court next Monday. Their lawyer claimed that the arrest was illegal and that the appeal for their release was already being reviewed by the Pakistani Supreme Court.
Khan, who led the Pakistani government from 2018 to 2022, was removed from office in a vote of no confidence in April 2022. In August 2023, Khan was arrested in a fraud case involving the sale of valuables stored in the state treasury. Several other charges were later filed against him, including treason for distributing classified information. During the appeals process, most of the charges against Khan were dropped, but the former prime minister remained in custody in the unlawful marriage case.