A Pakistan court has sentenced former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife to 14 and seven years in jail respectively after finding them guilty of corruption, his lawyers and officials said.
The two were accused of accepting a gift of land from a real estate tycoon in exchange for laundered money when Mr Khan was in power.
The court has also fined Mr Khan 1 million rupees (£2,950) and ordered his wife to pay half that amount.
According to prosecutors, Mr Khan allowed the businessman Malik Riaz to pay fines that were imposed on him in a separate case out of the laundered amount of £190m ($240m). The amount was returned by the British authorities to Pakistan in 2022 to be deposited into the national Exchequer.
Mr Khan and his party have described the allegations, known in Pakistan as the al-Qadir Trust case, as politically motivated.
Speaking on Friday from inside Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, where he has been held since his arrest in 2023, Mr Khan said: “Today’s verdict has tarnished the reputation of the judiciary. In this case, neither I benefited nor the government lost. I don’t want any relief and I will face all cases.”
He claimed “a dictator is doing all this”. “My wife is a housewife, who has nothing to do with this phoney case and she has been given this sentence to infuriate me,” Mr Khan said, according to a statement issued by his PTI party.
In January last year, it was announced that Mr Khan was convicted in three separate cases of selling state gifts, leaking state secrets and violating marriage laws and sentenced to 10, 14 and seven years respectively. All of these convictions have since been suspended or overturned, but Mr Khan was kept in custody in relation to dozens of other pending cases.
Authorities arrested Ms Bibi from the court premises on Friday.
An official from Mr Khan’s political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said they are waiting for the details but the case is “bound to collapse” in the absence of evidence implicating Mr Khan and his wife.
“Whilst we wait for a detailed decision, it’s important to note that the al-Qadir Trust case against Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi lacks any solid foundation and is bound to collapse. All evidence and witness testimonies confirm that there has been no mismanagement or wrongdoing. Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi are merely trustees with no further involvement in the matter,” the official said.
The major cases against Imran Khan
A look at some of the dozens of charges facing the former Pakistan prime minister
Real estate corruption
On Friday, the former Pakistan cricketer was convicted on charges that he and his wife were gifted land by a real estate developer during his premiership from 2018 to 2022 in exchange for illegal favours.
He was first arrested in May 2023 in this case on allegations that the couple received land worth up to Rs 7 billion ($25.12m) as a bribe through the al-Qadir Trust created in 2018.
His Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has maintained the land was donated for charitable purposes. His wife Bushra Bibi was taken into custody on Friday, after being released on bail in October in another case.
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State gifts
Khan was arrested in August 2023 for allegedly selling gifts worth more than Rs 140 million that he received during his premiership and which belonged in state possession.
Khan and Bushra Bibi were indicted on fresh charges in December after they were sentenced in two other versions of the case, although the sentences have been suspended. The couple has denied any wrongdoing.
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Abetting violence
Khan faces anti-terrorism charges in connection with the violence that followed his arrest in May 2023, and in relation to which several of his supporters have already been sentenced.
He was indicted in December and is on trial.
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State secrets
Khan was accused of making public a classified cable sent to Islamabad by Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington in 2022, while he still held office. He was acquitted in the case in June.
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Unlawful marriage
Khan and his wife were accused of breaking Islamic law by failing to observe the mandated waiting period between Bushra Bibi’s divorce from her previous husband and their marriage in 2018. They were acquitted of the charges in July last year.
“This is a bogus case, and we will approach an appeals court against this decision,” said Omar Ayub Khan, a senior party figure.
The sentencing comes a day after Pakistan’s information minister Attaullah Tarar said there was “irrefutable evidence” against Mr Khan and his wife in the “mega corruption scandal”.
The minister said that the former prime minister did not inform his cabinet members about the money being returned by Britain and given back to Pakistan.
He alleged that Mr Khan built a lavish new house in Lahore city but could not prove where he found the money to finance it, saying this is because he had received it for giving benefits to the businessman.
On Thursday, Mr Khan’s party made fresh attempts to demand the release of all political prisoners associated with PTI, including Mr Khan, as they held talks with representatives from the Pakistan government.
