Former Pakistani Prime Minister sentenced to 14 Years Imprisonment

Just a day after a special court gave him a 10-years sentence for leaking state secrets, 

Former Pakistani Prime Minister, Imran Khan and his wife, have again been sentenced to 14 years in prison for corruption.

Ahead of Pakistan’s Feb. 8 parliamentary elections, the court also disqualified Khan from holding any public office for years.

The latest conviction is coming as Khan’s third since 2022 when he was ousted from power.

Khan and his wife were accused in the most recent case of retaining and selling state gifts when the former premier was in power.

Khan’s lawyer, Babar Awan, said the former prime minister was convicted and sentenced in such a hurry that the judge did not wait for the arrival of his legal team.

He added that Khan’s basic human and fundamental rights had been violated, and that the latest conviction and sentencing would be challenged in higher courts.

“It seems the judge was in a hurry to announce the verdict,” he said.

Zulfiqar Bukhari, the chief spokesperson for Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, also confirmed the conviction and sentencing.

According to authorities, this development came three weeks after Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, were indicted on graft charges for retaining state gifts including jewelry and watches from Saudi Arabia’s government.

The latest court order was another blow to Khan. He and Bibi had pleaded not guilty when the charges were read out at a court at the prison in the garrison city of Rawalpindi earlier this month.

Recall that Khan was ousted from power in a no-confidence vote in Parliament in April 2022. Despite his conviction and sentencing, he remains popular and is currently serving time on a corruption conviction and has multiple other legal cases hanging over him.