The ex-husband of Imran Khan’s third wife Bushra Bibi was attacked by one of the lawyers of the former Pakistan prime minister outside a court here as he appeared for a hearing on appeals against the couple’s conviction in the un-Islamic marriage case.

Khan, 71, and Bibi, 49, were sentenced to seven years in prison each on February 3 by a trial court for contracting the marriage during iddat, a mandatory period for a woman in Islam to wait before a second marriage after the death of her husband or divorce.

The case was filed by Bushra’s ex-husband Khawar Maneka against the couple in November 2023, alleging that they married without Bushra observing the mandatory waiting period of iddat. He asked the court to declare the marriage null and void.

The court, on May 23, reserved the verdict on the appeals which was to be announced on Wednesday.

During the hearing of appeals filed by Bushra and her husband and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Khan against conviction in the case, Islamabad District and Sessions Judge Shahrukh Arjumand went into his chamber without announcing the verdict.

Following the development, PTI lawyers hurled bottles in the courtroom which prompted Maneka’s lawyers to escort him out.

However, while being escorted out, a PTI lawyer attacked Maneka within the court premises after which he fell to the ground. 

The couple had married in 2018, the year Khan went on to win elections and become prime minister. Bushra was ostensibly his spiritual guide but the two developed affection for each other during their meetings. She got a divorce from her husband of 28 years with whom she had five children.

She is the third wife of Khan, a former cricketing hero, who during his heydays of sporting career had a playboy reputation.