Pakistan ex-PM Imran Khan sentenced to 14 years in state gifts case

ISLAMABAD – A Pakistani anti-graft court jailed Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Khan for 14 years each on charges of illegally selling state gifts, his party said on Jan 31. It is the third conviction for the embattled former prime minister in the last few months.

The verdict also includes a 10-year disqualification from holding public office, said his party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Bushra Khan, commonly known as Bushra Bibi, gave herself up for arrest shortly after the verdict, PTI added.

The 14-year imprisonment is harsher than the

10-year sentence given to Khan on Jan 30

on charges of revealing state secrets, and just a week before national elections. It was not immediately clear if his two sentences would run concurrently.

“Another sad day in our judicial system history, which is being dismantled,” his media team said, denying the charge that any illegal acts were committed.

“No cross-questioning allowed, no final arguments concluded and (the) decision pops up like a pre-determined process in play,” it said. “This ridiculous decision will also be challenged.”

Khan, 71, and his wife are charged with illegally selling gifts worth more than 140 million rupees ($670,300) in state possession and received during his 2018 to 2022 premiership.

Government officials have alleged his aides sold the gifts in Dubai.

A list of these gifts, according to a former information minister, included perfumes, diamond jewellery, dinner sets and seven watches, six of them Rolexes – the most expensive being a “Master Graff limited edition” valued at 85 million rupees.

Khan was also handed a

three-year prison sentence in August

for the same charge by another court, but that sentence was suspended on appeal.

The verdict on Jan 31 followed an investigation by Pakistan’s top anti-graft body, the National Accountability Bureau, which had also charged his wife in the case.

Bushra’s conviction is an attempt to pressurise Khan further, PTI’s acting chairman and lawyer Gohar Ali Khan said in a television interview. “Bushra Bibi has no link to this case,” he said.

While Khan has been found guilty in the other two cases, this is the first sentencing for his wife. The two were married in 2018, months before his ascension to the premiership for the first time. It was his third marriage after two divorces.

A prosecution team member, speaking to Reuters on the condition of anonymity, confirmed the verdict. Local broadcaster Geo News reported that the verdict also came with a hefty fine.

Khan’s earlier conviction resulted in a five-year ban from holding public office, ruling him out of the

upcoming Feb 8 election.

The Jan 31 verdict, however, means he will be ineligible to hold office till he is 81.

Following the verdict against Khan and his wife, police were deployed outside his party’s offices in Islamabad and Lahore. Islamabad’s police spokesman said the deployment was in the light of the Jan 31 verdict.

Khan has been fighting dozens of cases since he was ousted from power in a parliamentary vote of no confidence in 2022. He says his ouster was backed by the country’s powerful military, with whom he fell out when he was in power.

He and his party say that since his ouster, they have been faced with a brutal military-backed crackdown. REUTERS