A high court in Islamabad, Pakistan on Friday granted former Prime Minister Imran Khan protection from arrest in a graft case and ordered him released on bail.
The ruling came as the government and legions of Khan’s supporters were on edge after days of violent confrontations sparked by the arrest of the former prime minister earlier this week.
The government has vowed it will find a way to take Khan back into custody, a move that would likely cause a resurgence of riots and mob attacks.
Friday’s ruling by the Islamabad High Court gave Khan protection from arrest on one of several corruption cases against him for a period of two weeks, a form of interim bail that usually is renewed in the Pakistan judicial system.
Khan’s chief lawyer, Babar Awan, praised the ruling, and said Khan was now “a free man.” A short while later, the court said Khan could not be arrested for the time being in other pending corruption cases against him. The former premier was expected to walk out of the court shortly
The government contends that Khan’s release rewards and encourages mob violence. After he was arrested Tuesday, his supporters attacked military installations, burned vehicles, and ambulances and looted general stores in various parts of the country. The government responded with a crackdown, arresting nearly 3,000 people. The violence left at least 10 Khan supporters dead. Dozens of protesters and more than 200 police officers were injured.
The arrest Tuesday was a startling and controversial move: Agents from the National Accountability Bureau burst into the Islamabad High Court where Khan was attending a session on other charges — the same court where he appeared Friday — and dragged him away, putting him into an armored vehicle.
On Thursday, Pakistan’s Supreme Court ruled that arrest unlawful, but asked the Islamabad High Court, a lower court, to reconsider its initial decision to uphold the arrest.
Khan, a former cricket star turned Islamist politician, was removed as prime minister last year by a no-confidence vote in Parliament and now leads the opposition. He faces more than 100 legal cases, most involving allegations that he incited violence and threatened police and government officials.
