Imran Khan: Former Pakistan PM and wife jailed 14 years for corruption

Islamabad, Pakistan

Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi have been sentenced to 14 years in prison, a day after the former Pakistan prime minister was jailed for 10 years.

Khan, who was ousted as PM by his opponents in 2022, is already serving a three-year jail term after being convicted of corruption.

On Tuesday he was sentenced for leaking state secrets, and on Wednesday given 14 years in another corruption case.

Khan has said the numerous cases against him are politically motivated.

These latest convictions come just a week before Pakistan’s elections on 8 February- a vote in which he is barred from standing and where his party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has faced campaigning restrictions.

It is believed the sentences against him will be served concurrently. Khan has already been detained, mostly at Adiala jail, since his arrest last August.

His wife Bushra Bibi also surrendered at the jail after Wednesday’s verdict. The two married in 2018, months before Khan was elected prime minister.

They had denied the charges that they sold state gifts they had received in office for personal profit. Along with the 14-year prison terms, they were also ordered to pay a fine of over 1.5 billion rupees (£4.2m;$5.3m).

On Wednesday, Khan’s PTI party said that the sentencing further meant that the former PM will also be disqualified for 10 years from holding public office.

A spokesman for his party described the ruling as: “Another sad day in our judicial system history, which is being dismantled.”

The former premier had blasted the court’s decision on Tuesday – where a judge found him guilty of revealing a classified document and damaging diplomatic relations.

Khan and his PTI party had described that case and the others against him as bogus, arguing that the trials have occurred in “kangaroo courts” and proceedings were carried out in haste.

Khan, a former international cricketer, had told his followers to “take revenge for every injustice with your vote on February 8 while remaining peaceful” in a statement released on his X (formerly Twitter) account.

“Tell them that we are not sheep that can be driven with a stick,” he said.

Source: BBC News

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