Khadija Shah | Pakistan

LAHORE: Fashion de­­signer Khadija Shah has approached the Lahore High Court (LHC), challenging her conviction in a May 9 case. She claims to have been falsely implicated for political reasons. Through her Advocate Sameer Khosa, Ms Shah argues that she had no involvement in the torching of a Supreme Court judge’s squad vehicle near Jinnah House during the riots. She maintained she was not named in the FIR, nor was she implicated throu­­gh supplementary statements. No identification para­­de was conducted to establish her presence at the scene. The trial, held inside Kot Lakhpat jail, resulted in 21 acquittals out of 51 accused, with 12 declared proclaimed offenders. Ms Shah was among the 18 convicted, recently sentenced to five years in prison and fined Rs100,000. The appeal highlights that the prosecution’s case relied solely on her social media activity post-May 9, 2023. However, the trial court scrutinized her entire online data without legal basis, terming the charges “defective, vague, and unsustainable....