A court in Pakistan on Tuesday ordered the release of former prime minister Imran Khan after suspending his conviction on graft charges, his lawyers said, but another tribunal extended his arrest in a separate case.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) said Mr Khan should be released on bail, his lawyer Babar Awan said.

Then, around an hour later, a different court ordered Mr Khan to be kept in jail on charges of leaking the content of an officially classified document during his tenure as prime minister.

The 70-year-old former sports star faces a flurry of charges since his removal as premier through a parliamentary vote of confidence last year.

Judge Mohamed Zulqarnain, who heads a court overseeing the investigation of the leak of a diplomatic cable, issued the order that Mr Khan be kept in jail until Wednesday and be brought before him.

Former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi is already in police custody for the probe of leaking the content of a cable about a conversation between a U.S. and a Pakistani diplomat.

Weeks before his ouster in April 2022, Mr Khan claimed the U.S. hatched a conspiracy with his opponents to remove him because he got close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He waved a paper at a public rally in Islamabad claiming that this cable sent by the Pakistani ambassador to the U.S. was proof.

A conviction on the charges of leaking the content of a classified document can result in a jail term.

Mr Khan was convicted and jailed for three years by a local court in Islamabad earlier this month on charges of stealing expensive gifts that were in state possession.

He had received them from other countries during his tenure as prime minister between 2018 and 2022.

Under Pakistani law, gifts received from other countries have to be submitted to the state kitty.

Mr Khan’s conviction also resulted in his disqualification from any public office for five years.

The suspension of the conviction would not yet end Mr Khan’s disqualification, lawyer Ihsan Ahmed said.

Pakistan has been in a political mess since Mr Khan was removed through a parliamentary vote of confidence last year.

The country’s economy faces a risk of default due to low productivity aggravated by last year’s mega flooding.

(dpa/NAN)