The 14-year jail sentence for Imran Khan and his spouse Bushra Bibi is the second one the former prime minister of Pakistan has received in as many days.
Only one week before the South Asian nation’s scheduled election—in which he is not permitted to run—the two sentences have been handed down.
Khan, who faces a three-year prison sentence for corruption, was forced out of office as prime minister by his opponents in 2022.
According to him, the several cases brought against him are driven by politics.
In Tuesday’s case, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for leaking sensitive state data; in Wednesday’s case, the focus was on allegations that he and his spouse had unlawfully benefited from selling official goods. The two phrases are expected to run simultaneously, however this has not been verified.
In addition, a punishment of around 1.5 billion rupees (£4.2 million; $5.3 million) has been imposed on the pair by the court.
According to Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, the sentence also bars their leader from engaging in politics going forward, since he would be barred from holding public office for ten years.
In both cases, Khan’s attorneys said that they will file an appeal with Pakistan’s High Court.
The former premier league and international cricket player has been in custody since his arrest in August of last year, spending the majority of his incarceration at Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail.
Bushra Bibi, his spouse, who had been detained on remand, turned herself in at the jail on Wednesday. Generally, she has maintained a low profile while they have been in office. In 2018, just before Khan was chosen as prime minister, the two were married.
The charges made by Pakistan’s anti-corruption commission, which claimed that both had kept or sold official gifts they had received while in service for personal benefit, were vehemently refuted by both. Among these presents was a collection of jewelry from Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince.
The PTI has called the charges against Khan fraudulent, claiming that they were held in “kangaroo courts” under coercion and that the procedures were hurried. It said the judiciary was being “dismantled” and that the case on Wednesday marked “another sad day in our judicial system history”.
“No cross questioning allowed, no final argument concluded and decision pops up like a pre-determined process in play,” it claimed.
Khan was not given an opportunity to defend himself in a trial that proceeded faster than anticipated, according to Khan’s attorneys. Reporters at the scene said that the judge also announced the judgments without the presence of Khan, Bibi, or their attorneys in the courtroom.
Aleema Khan, the sister of Khan, informed the BBC outside the Adiala jail that there was uncertainty around the scheduled start time of the case.
Khan did not yet publicly respond to Wednesday’s decision. He had denounced the court’s decision on Tuesday, in which he was found guilty of disclosing a secret document and jeopardizing diplomatic ties.
In a post on his X (formerly Twitter) account following the judgment, he urged his supporters to “take revenge for every injustice with your vote on February 8 while remaining peaceful”.
Given how much Khan and his party have been marginalized, many people were already doubting the legitimacy of the election scheduled for next Thursday before these penalties were ever handed down.
Although many of PTI’s officials are currently in jail or have defected, the authorities deny carrying out a crackdown on the organization. Many of its candidates are running for office and are running as independents.
Following often violent rallies, many of the party’s members were gathered up when Khan was brought into jail in May of last year.
The party has also lost its cricket bat emblem, which is crucial in a nation with low literacy rates so that voters may mark their votes wherever they see fit.
Nawaz Sharif, a three-time former prime minister who returned from self-imposed exile in the fall, is the favorite. For the most of his lengthy career, he was a thorn in the side of the strong military, and he was imprisoned for corruption prior to Imran Khan’s victory in the 2018 election.
While Khan, who was formerly seen to be close to the military, has fallen out of favor, many now feel he is preferred by the Pakistani military elite.
