Pakistani Geo News channel reported that a court today, Saturday, sentenced former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi to 17 years in prison each in a corruption case related to disposing of state gifts at less than their true value.
The latest conviction adds to a series of legal troubles faced by Imran Khan, who has been imprisoned since August 2023 and faces dozens of cases filed against him since his removal from office in 2022 ranging from corruption charges to disclosing state secrets.
Khan has denied any wrongdoing in all these cases, which his party describes as politically motivated.
Rana Mudassar Umar, a lawyer for the Khan family, told Reuters, "The court issued the judgement without listening to the defense, sentencing Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi to 17 years in prison along with hefty fines."
The court added that they were sentenced to 10 years in prison with hard labor under the Pakistani penal code for breach of trust, and another 7 years under anti-corruption laws, in addition to fines totaling 16.4 million rupees each.
This case is separate from a previous case related to state gifts associated with Khan’s arrest in August 2023.
Earlier, Imran Khan was convicted of corruption after receiving gifts while he was Prime Minister between 2018 and 2022. While the sentence handing him 14 years in prison in April was suspended, his conviction still stands.
Imran Khan faces more than 200 cases in court since he was ousted in April 2022, in what he described as a campaign aimed to keep him away from power.
Khan, aged 71, and his wife Bushra Bibi were sentenced to 7 years in prison for violating Sharia by connecting soon after her divorce.
Khan was ousted as Prime Minister of Pakistan by a vote of no-confidence in April 2022, and he stresses that the military ruling system fabricated the violations attributed to him, which number over two hundred to prevent him from running in the elections on February 8th.
An earlier this month, a high Pakistani court acquitted Khan of a treason charge he had previously been convicted of, although he remains jailed on other charges.
