ISLAMABAD (AP) — A key ally of Pakistan’s jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan was released from prison Tuesday after nearly a year as a court granted him bail in a corruption case, his party said.
Pervez Elahi, the president of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, was arrested in June on charges of illegally appointing officers to the Punjab Assembly when he was the province’s top elected official. Elahi has denied the accusation and says he is a political victim.
Elahi’s party said in a brief statement that he was now home after being released from prison in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. Elahi welcomed the court’s order in a post on social media platform X.
Elahi was the highest-ranking elected official in Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, when Khan was prime minister.
Khan was impeached by parliament in a vote of no confidence in 2022 and is serving multiple prison sentences after being convicted in several cases. He too has claimed that he is a political victim.
