Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan, and his wife, have been sentenced to 14 years in prison in a corruption case, officials say.
It comes a day after the cricketer-turned-politician was jailed for 10 years for leaking state secrets.
In this latest case, Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, were accused of retaining and selling state gifts when he was in power.
Alongside the sentence, the court disqualified Khan from holding any public office for 10 years.
The disqualification order comes ahead of the country’s parliamentary elections on 8 February.
Image: Khan appears in court in May last year. Pic: Reuters
Khan, who served as prime minister from 2018 until he was ousted from power through a no confidence vote in April 2022, had hoped to run again.
But he had been barred from standing due to a previous conviction.
The 71-year-old, the founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, was jailed in August 2023 on corruption charges – which he has claimed are politically motivated.
Khan has appealed that conviction. However, he faces around 150 other charges, ranging from contempt of court to terrorism and inciting violence.
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State secrets case
On Tuesday, Khan was sentenced to 10 years in prison for leaking state secrets.
His former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi was also given a 10-year jail sentence as part of the case.
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It was alleged Khan shared the contents of a secret cable sent by the country’s ambassador in Washington to the ministry of foreign affairs in Islamabad by waving it at a rally.
Khan claimed the cable was proof of a conspiracy by the Pakistani military and US government to topple his government in 2022, after he visited Moscow just before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
He also previously said the contents of the cable appeared in the media from other sources.
Image: A supporter of Imran Khan throws stones using a slingshot during a protest against his arrest in May. Pic: AP
Image: A burning prison van set on fire by supporters of Khan during a protest last year. Pic: Reuters
Washington and the Pakistan military have denied Khan’s claims.
Khan’s party said they would challenge the decision, by a special court judge at the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, and called it a “sham case”.
Pakistan has seen violent demonstrations since Khan’s arrest in May last year.
Authorities have cracked down on his supporters and party since then.
Source : Sky News
