Pakistan ex-PM Khan's wife back home after residence declared 'sub-jail'

The wife of former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan - jailed alongside her husband on Wednesday (Jan 31) for 14 years for graft - is serving her sentence at home after their residence was officially declared a "sub-jail" by authorities.

Bushra Bibi, a Muslim faith healer who met Khan when he approached her for spiritual guidance, handed herself in to authorities on Wednesday shortly after the pair were sentenced in a case involving the sale of foreign gifts received while he was premier.

Khan, who was also sentenced to 10 years in jail on Tuesday in a separate case after being found guilty of leaking state secrets, remains at Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, where the trial was held.

The former international cricketer and his legal team have slammed the convictions and myriad other charges as a ploy by the military-led establishment to keep him from returning to power in elections next week. Late Wednesday the government said Bibi had been transferred to her home on the outskirts of Islamabad from Adiala jail. "The Chief Commissioner, Islamabad Capital Territory is pleased to declare the residence of convict Mst. Bushra Bibi ... as Sub-Jail, as on Jan 31, 2024, till further orders," read an order seen by AFP.

The Khan home - a rambling bungalow in a large compound surrounded by high concrete walls - is in the plush Bani Gala area of the capital.

Pakistan goes to the polls on Feb 8 in a ballot already marred by allegations of rigging, with Khan barred from running and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party subject to a massive crackdown.

Thousands of supporters were detained when riots broke out after Khan's first arrest last year, with around 100 people awaiting trial in secretive military courts.

Bibi is a polarising figure whose marriage to Khan in 2018 - months before he was elected prime minister - both scandalised and titillated the nation.

Oxford-educated Khan earned a reputation as a playboy during his cricket-playing bachelor days, frequently photographed alongside society beauties and models.

His first marriage to Jemima Goldsmith - the daughter of a British multimillionaire - ended in divorce.

He then married Reham Nayyar, a television journalist who published a kiss-and-tell memoir after they divorced within a year.

Bibi, his third wife, rarely appears in public and wears a face-covering hijab when she does.