Imran Khan, the former prime minister of Pakistan, will remain in jail despite being acquitted of unlawful marriage charges.

Khan and his third wife Bushra Khan, who married in 2018, were sentenced to seven years in prison after a court found him guilty of breaking Islamic law.

The couple were found to have not observed the legally required three-month interval between the divorce from a previous marriage and their own.

Bushra was previously married to a man who claimed they divorced in November 2017, which was less than three months before marrying Khan.

After launching an appeal, the court ruled on Saturday that the prosecution had failed to prove its case, and said: “Both the appellants are acquitted of the charges.

“They are directed to be released forthwith if not required to be detained in any other case.”

But shortly after the acquittal, Khan’s PTI party said authorities issued fresh arrest warrants for Khan over three cases linked to violence against the military and other state bodies after his brief arrest in May last year.

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He was originally arrested on corruption charges – which were later ruled illegal by the Supreme Court – and told Sky News at the time democracy in Pakistan is at “an all-time low“.

At least eight people died and hundreds were detained in ensuing protests about the former prime minister’s arrest.

While Khan has been acquitted in several cases relating to the violence, his bail was cancelled in one pending against him over protests in Lahore on 9 May.

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All four jail sentences Khan received ahead of the February national election – where independents who mostly supported the former prime minister won 93 of 264 seats – have now been overturned or suspended.

He has been in prison since August last year. In June he was acquitted for charges he leaked state secrets, and two other corruption sentences have been suspended.

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The PTI party added Bushra was also arrested again, and is on bail in a land corruption case in which she is also co-accused with Khan.

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