A Pakistani court on Friday, January 17, sentenced the country’s already-imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan to 14 years in jail after finding him guilty of corruption, officials and his lawyer said. His wife, Bushra Bibi, was sentenced to seven years.
The sentencing was held at an accountability court operating from Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, which had reserved its verdict in December last year and deferred the announcement three times.
The former prime minister and cricket star has been behind bars since 2023. His wife was arrested at the court premises.
The couple are accused of accepting a gift of land from a real estate tycoon in exchange for laundered money when Mr Khan was in office.
Prosecutors say the businessman, Malik Riaz Hussain, was then allowed by Mr Khan to pay fines that were imposed on him in another case from the same laundered money of £190million that had previously been returned to Pakistan by British authorities to deposit to the national exchequer.
Khan has denied wrongdoing and insisted since his arrest in 2023 that all the charges against him are a plot by rivals to keep him from returning to office.
Faisal Chaudhry, a defence lawyer, said the court verdict could be challenged in the superior courts.
Shortly after the announcement of the verdict, lawmakers from Mr Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party rallied outside the parliament in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, saying the former leader had been wrongly punished.
“This is a bogus case, and we will approach an appeals court against this decision,” claimed Omar Ayub Khan, a senior party leader who is not related to the former cricket star.
Mr Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote in parliament in April 2022.
Some of Mr Khan’s supporters were also present outside the Adiala prison in the city of Rawalpindi, and they chanted slogans against the government, demanding the release of their leader.
On Thursday, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar claimed to reporters in Islamabad that there was “irrefutable evidence” against Mr Khan and his wife in the “mega corruption scandal.” Mr Tarar claimed that Mr Khan did not even tell his own Cabinet members about the money that was returned to Pakistan by Britain.
The latest development came a day after Mr Khan’s PTI party held a crucial round of talks with representatives of the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to demand the release of all political detainees, including the former Prime Minister and other party leaders.
Mr Sharif became the Pakistani Prime Minister following the February 2024 election, which PTI claims was rigged.
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