RAWALPINDI: A Pakistan court on Friday convicted former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, guilty in a major corruption case. Khan was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
He has been in jail since August 2023 and is facing almost 200 charges. His party, however, claims that the conviction is politically motivated and an attempt to silence him.
"I will neither make any deal nor seek any relief," Khan stated to reporters in the courtroom after the verdict. The anti-graft court, convened at the jail near Islamabad where Khan is being held, found both Khan and Bibi guilty of involvement in the Al-Qadir Trust, a welfare foundation they founded.
Judge Nasir Javed Rana stated that, "The prosecution has proven its case. Khan is convicted" while delivering a 14-year sentence for Khan and a 7-year sentence for Bibi. Bibi, a faith healer, was recently granted bail but was arrested at the court following the ruling, according to her spokeswoman, Mashal Yousafzai.
Khan says the charges against him are politically motivated, meant to stop him from coming back to power. Experts think the delayed sentencing is a way to pressure Khan into making a deal with the military and leaving politics.
Since his ousting in 2022, Khan has led an outspoken campaign against Pakistan’s powerful military. He has been convicted four times, with two sentences overturned and the others suspended, but he remains in prison due to pending charges.
A United Nations expert panel ruled last year that Khan's detention "had no legal basis and appears to have been intended to disqualify him from running for political office." Khan has been barred from contesting the upcoming February elections, while his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, which won more seats than any other party, has been excluded from power by a coalition of parties seen as more sympathetic to the military.
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