Acquittal for Pakistan’s Khan and Wife in Illegal Marriage Case

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan of Pakistan and his wife were acquitted on Saturday in a case that accused them of unlawful marriage, the latest in a string of legal victories for the embattled leader ousted from power two years ago.

However, he is unlikely to be immediately released from prison, where he has been held for nearly a year, as the authorities have recently suggested that he will face new charges. Earlier in the week, his prospects for bail dimmed in a case over accusations that he had incited violent riots and that his supporters had ransacked several military installations last May.

Just days before the Feb. 8 parliamentary elections, Mr. Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, were convicted in back-to-back cases. In the one known locally as the illegal marriage case, Mr. Khan and Ms. Bibi each received a sentence of seven years in prison. A court found them guilty of having violated Islamic law by not adhering to the required waiting period between Ms. Bibi’s divorce and her marriage to Mr. Khan.

The conviction drew widespread criticism from human rights and women’s groups, who argued that it represented a setback for women’s rights and would perpetuate male dominance over marital relationships in Pakistan.

On Saturday, Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka of the Islamabad Additional District and Sessions Court announced that the appeals of both Mr. Khan and Ms. Bibi had been accepted. The judge ordered their release, provided there were no other cases against the couple.

The legal proceedings and appeals of the unlawful marriage case were marred by delays, controversies, heated arguments and even physical violence between Mr. Khan’s lawyers and Khawar Maneka, the first husband of Ms. Bibi.