A Pakistani court has sentenced the former Prime Minister Imran Khan to 14 years in prison in a corruption case, reported Reuters. According to the court verdict, the wife of the former Prime Minister, Bushra Bibi, was also found guilty of “abetment and abetting” corrupt activities and sentenced to seven years in prison.
The court found the couple guilty of receiving plots as bribes during Khan’s term from 2018 to 2022 and legalizing illegal profits through the non-governmental organization Al-Qadir Trust. Khan’s supporters posted a statement from the former Prime Minister on the social media platform X, in which he said that the current Pakistani authorities are “making a laughing stock of themselves in the world” and putting themselves in a “very embarrassing situation” through his conviction in an “unjust case”.
Khan has been convicted three times already. In August 2023, he was sentenced to a three-year prison term for money laundering. At the end of January 2024, two new verdicts were handed down against the former Prime Minister: for leaking state secrets (ten years in prison) and concealing gifts to his family (14 years in prison). Khan has been in pre-trial detention since the first conviction.
Khan was removed from office in the spring of 2022 after the parliament passed a no-confidence motion against him. In May 2023, the politician was arrested for the first time. This led to massive protests in Pakistan, with over a thousand people arrested. Two days later, the Supreme Court recognized Khan’s arrest as illegal. As a result, the former head of government was released on bail.