Imran Khan appeal hearing: IHC to take up £190m case on 10 November
The Islamabad High Court has fixed Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi's appeals against their £190m case sentences for Monday. What the case is and what slowed it down.
The Islamabad High Court will hear PTI founder Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi’s appeals against their convictions in the £190 million case on Monday, 10 November. The court’s cause list, issued by the registrar’s office on Wednesday, 4 November, shows the case before a division bench of Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Asif.
It is the first firm date in weeks for an appeal that has moved slowly. At the last hearing the bench adjourned without taking up the case after Imran Khan’s lawyer, Barrister Salman Safdar, asked for more time, and the court had told the defence to come ready to argue the appeals.
What the sentences were
In January 2025, an accountability court in Islamabad sentenced Imran Khan to 14 years in prison and Bushra Bibi to seven years in a reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). Both appealed to the high court.
What the £190m case is about
The case centres on the Al-Qadir Trust, a welfare trust set up in 2018 that runs a university outside Islamabad.
- The government’s case: NAB says the trust was used to receive land worth millions of dollars from a property tycoon. In return, it says, Imran Khan’s government let money repatriated from the UK, about £190 million, be used to settle the businessman’s fines instead of going into the national treasury.
- Imran Khan’s position: he denies any wrongdoing and says neither he nor his wife made any financial gain from the trust or the transactions.
Why the appeal has taken so long
The defence has repeatedly told the court it cannot get proper instructions from its clients. Salman Safdar said he had met Imran Khan on the bench’s directions but had not met Bushra Bibi since December 2025. He asked that the appeals be heard only after the Federal Constitutional Court decides a separate petition, still pending, on suspending Bushra Bibi’s sentence.
At an earlier hearing, senior lawyer Sardar Latif Khosa could not reach the court because roads were closed, and another defence lawyer, Khalid Yousuf Chaudhry, said the court office refused to accept an application that day. Chief Justice Dogar asked Safdar whether any order had made him think the bench was biased; Safdar said no.
What happens on Monday
The bench is expected to hear arguments on the appeals themselves. It could also deal with the defence’s requests first, including the plea to wait for the constitutional court. A ruling on the appeals is not expected on the first day of arguments.
The outcome matters well beyond PTI: it is the conviction that keeps the former prime minister in prison, and his party has made his release its main demand.
