Former prime minister Imran khan
Imran Khan, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, has received a ten-year prison sentence for the unauthorized disclosure of state secrets, along with one of his party deputies, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who had previously been found guilty of the same offense.
The verdict, announced on January 30 during a hearing at the Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, was disclosed by Zulfiqar Bukhari, spokesperson for Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. Khan, aged 71, had been ousted through a no-confidence vote in parliament in April 2022, and he is currently serving a three-year prison term in a corruption case since August 2023. He contends that the charges are politically motivated.
This sentencing is related to the Cipher case and is connected to a diplomatic cable that Khan alleges supports his claims of a conspiracy to remove him from power in 2022. This development comes just a week before the parliamentary elections scheduled for February 8.
Although Khan won’t be on the ballot next month, his team is expected to appeal the ruling. Despite his absence from the elections, Khan remains a potent political force in Pakistan, boasting a significant grassroots following and employing an anti-establishment rhetoric. Recently, nationwide rallies organized by Khan’s supporters, some of which turned violent, were held across Pakistan. These demonstrations featured clashes with police and included slogans against the caretaker government, which they accused of attempting to exclude the PTI party from the upcoming elections.