A judge issues a dissenting note in favor of maintaining the previous restriction on the rights of the defense
ISLAMABAD:
The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday restored the right of defense of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan in a long-pending defamation case filed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in a majority verdict that also set aside earlier orders of lower courts.
The case stems from allegations made in 2017, when the PTI founder accused Prime Minister Shehbaz of offering money to remove the Panama Papers case. In response, the Prime Minister filed a defamation suit, which remained pending in the lower court for eight years.
The trial court had earlier terminated the PTI founder’s defense rights, a decision later upheld by the Lahore High Court (LHC). The PTI founder then approached the SC against the order.
Earlier, a three-member bench headed by Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, along with Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan and Justice Ayesha Malik, heard the appeal against the LHC decision.
In that earlier ruling, Justices Mansoor Ali Shah and Amin-ud-Din Khan had upheld the closure of the right of defense, while Justice Ayesha Malik dissented.
On December 29, 2022, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan had also upheld the High Court’s decision to terminate the right of defence.
However, the Supreme Court granted a review petition against this order and restored the right of defense, ordering the trial court to pursue the case in accordance with law.
The majority verdict was announced in open court by Justice Ayesha Malik, who also chaired the review bench. According to court records, the decision was made by a majority of two judges. At the same time, a judge issued a dissenting note in favor of maintaining the previous restriction on the rights of the defense.
The bench also noted the procedural history of the case, including repeated delays at the trial stage. Court documents indicate Khan requested more than 70 adjournments and submitted his written response after a four-year delay.
Read: Defamation: SC will resume the review plea of the former Prime Minister
Meanwhile, it was noted that Shehbaz had appeared during the proceedings via video link in several hearings while he was in office.
The earlier decision to block the right of defense was challenged before the SC, where a three-member panel initially confirmed the restriction by majority. A dissenting note was also recorded at this stage.
2017 defamation lawsuit
A defamation suit was filed by Shehbaz Sharif against the then opposition leader Imran Khan. The case, originally filed in 2017, accuses Khan of making defamatory statements about Sharif that allegedly harmed his reputation and mental well-being.
Sharif’s defamation suit stems from Khan’s allegations that Sharif offered him Rs 10 billion through a mutual friend in exchange for his withdrawal from the Panama Papers case, then pending before the Supreme Court.
According to the suit, these “baseless and malicious” statements were widely disseminated by the media, damaging Sharif’s public image and causing “extreme mental torture, agony and anxiety.”
Sharif’s legal team asked the court to issue a decree to recover 10 billion rupees in compensation for the defamation, as well as for the harm caused by the statements. The Prime Minister says the accusations were false and resulted in significant reputational damage.
In response, Khan filed a response in 2021, claiming that the information was passed to him by a friend, who was allegedly approached by a member of the Sharif family with an offer to stop pursuing the Panama case.
Khan said he revealed the incident in the public interest and argued that his statement did not specifically attribute any part of the allegation to Sharif.
