The Supreme Court on Thursday accepted the bail pleas of former prime minister Imran Khan in eight cases linked to the May 9, 2023 riots, including the attack on the Lahore corps commander’s residence.
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A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Yahya Afridi, along with Justices Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui and Hasan Azhar Rizvi, announced the verdict after hearing arguments from both sides. Barrister Salman Safdar represented the PTI founder, while Punjab’s special prosecutor Zulfiqar Naqvi appeared for the state.
The SC ruling comes after a series of rejections from lower courts. In November 2024, an anti-terrorism court in Lahore denied bail to Khan in these cases, a decision later upheld by the Lahore High Court (LHC) on June 24, 2025. Khan subsequently challenged the LHC’s order before the apex court.
Despite the relief, the PTI chief remains behind bars. Imprisoned since August 2023 in the £190 million graft case related to state gifts, Khan is serving his sentence at Adiala Jail and still faces multiple other trials stemming from the May 9 violence.
Following the verdict, PTI celebrated on social media, terming the decision a “Victory For Imran Khan.”
Inside the Hearing: At the outset, prosecutor Naqvi explained his absence from Wednesday’s hearing due to illness. CJP Afridi then posed two questions: whether final observations could be made in bail matters, and whether the principle of precedence applied since the LHC had granted bail in a similar conspiracy case.
Naqvi replied that court observations in bail matters were always “interim in nature” and carried no weight in the final trial. When the prosecutor sought to argue on the merits of the case, the CJP firmly restricted him to addressing only the legal aspects related to the conspiracy charge.
