Arrest of ex-PM Imran Khan overturned by Supreme Court

Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Thursday (May 11th) overturned the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who sparked violent protests by his supporters across the country. “Your arrest is invalid and the entire process needs to be reviewed”said the president of the Supreme Court, which was considering an appeal filed by Imran Khan’s lawyers against his arrest on Tuesday in a corruption case. “From now on, no arrests should take place on the premises of a court”he justified.

Imran Khan, 70, who was ousted in April 2022 but remains popular and hopes to return to power soon, was arrested while responding to a court summons in the case. “I was treated like a terrorist”, estimated before the Court the ex-Prime Minister, who was then placed on Wednesday in pre-trial detention. His arrest angered his supporters.

Thousands of supporters of his party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI, Pakistan Justice Movement), demonstrated for two days, setting fire to or damaging public buildings. At least nine people have died in incidents linked to the protests, which were violently suppressed by security forces, according to police and hospitals. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, also called on the Pakistani security forces on Thursday to “restraint” and asked the demonstrators to “refrain from all violence”.