A Pakistani court on Friday sentenced former Prime Minister Imran Khan to 14 years in prison in a land corruption case, a setback to nascent talks between his party and the government aimed at cooling political instability in the South Asian country.
The verdict in the case was handed down by an anti-corruption court in a prison in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, where Khan has been detained since August 2023.
Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi was also found guilty and sentenced to seven years in prison. She was out on bail but was taken into custody after the verdict, Geo News reported.
Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar told reporters that Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party could approach higher courts to appeal against the verdict and that the former cricket star could also submit a mercy petition to the Pakistani president.
Omar Ayub, an adviser to Khan, said the party would challenge the ruling in higher courts.
The 72-year-old Khan faced charges that land was given to him and his wife by a real estate developer in return for illegal favors during his term as prime minister from 2018 to 2022.
Khan and Bibi had pleaded not guilty.
Dispute over property purchase
The case is related to the Al-Qadir Trust, a non-governmental charity set up by the couple during Khan’s time in office.
Prosecutors say the trust was a front for Khan to illegally obtain land from a real estate developer. They said he was given 24 hectares near Islamabad and another large plot of land near his hilltop villa in the capital.
According to Khan, the land was not intended for personal gain but for the spiritual and educational institution established by the former prime minister.
“While we await a detailed decision, it is important to note that the Al-Qadir Trust case against Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi has no sound basis and is bound to fail,” PTI’s foreign media wing said in a statement.
The announcement of the verdict was delayed three times, most recently on Monday, when reconciliation talks took place between the PTI and the government. The two sides have been at loggerheads since Khan was ousted from office in 2022.
The ruling is the biggest setback for Khan and his party since a surprisingly good result in the 2024 general election, when PTI candidates – forced to run as independents – won the most seats but not the majority needed to form a government achieved.
Khan has been detained since August 2023 and faces dozens of cases ranging from charges of bribery and abuse of power to inciting violence against the state after he was removed from office in a parliamentary confidence vote in April 2022.
Khan, who led Pakistan to a Cricket World Cup in 1992, has either been acquitted or had his sentences suspended in most cases, except this one and another on charges of inciting supporters to riot through military installations to protest against his Arrest on May 9th to protest. 2023.
He has denied any wrongdoing in all cases against him, telling Reuters that the military – which has ruled Pakistan for most of its history since independence in 1947 – and its intelligence agency were trying to destroy him and his political party.
His supporters have led several violent protests since the May 9 incidents.
Khan’s cases were heard in prison for security reasons.
An increasingly important role for Bushra
Khan and his followers commonly refer to his wife as Bushra Bibi or Bushra Begum, titles that mean respect in the Urdu language.
She was born Bushra Riaz Watto and changed her name to Khan after their wedding in 2018 – his third marriage and her second.
Thousands of protesters were sprayed with tear gas and bullets in Islamabad as they demanded the release of jailed former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. CBC South Asia correspondent Salimah Shivji explains the crackdown and what brought long-simmering tensions to a boiling point.
She usually appears in public with a veil over her face and wears a flowing, simple black or white abaya or robe.
Bushra, who is in her late 40s, made headlines around the world last year when she entered the capital Islamabad along with thousands of PTI supporters and broke through heavy security barricades.
“All of you must promise that you will not leave until Khan is among us,” Bushra said in her first-ever speech at a public rally.
Stressing her increasingly active role in the PTI, she insisted on holding the protest at the sensitive, central location, despite Khan’s instructions to gather on the outskirts of the capital, according to party officials.
She was released from prison in October after nine months on a case related to the illegal sale of government gifts.
